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ANTIOCH. 



ANTIOCH: 



OB, 



INCREASE OF MORAL POWER 



IN THE 



CHURCH OF CHRIST. 



BY 



/ 



REV. PHARCELLUS CHURCH, 

AUTHOR OF PRIZE ESSAYS ON " RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS," 
" PHILOSOPHY OF BENEVOLENCE," ETC. 



^ WITH AN 

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

BY 

REV. BARON STOW, 

PASTOR OF BALDWIN PLACE CHURCH, BOSTON. 




BOSTON: ^-^^.^ .vASH^^^'i^ 
GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLTSr; 

ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
SAGE AND BROTHER. 

1843.. 






d 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, 
By GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 




WEST BROOKFIELD : 
C. A. MIRICK AND CO., PRINTERS. 



TO 

THE HAMILTON 

LITERAEY AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION, 

THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



1# 



PREFACE 



This work contains the ideas, in an expanded form, of 
an Address on Commencement week, before a subsidiar}^ 
organization of the Hamilton Theological Seminary. 
The author was subsequently honored with the following 
request : ^^Eesolved, that Rev. Pharcelliis Church be re- 
quested to furnish this Association, for the purpose of 
* publication, a copy of an Address delivered by him be- 
fore its last anniversary." 

This request I declined, because I could not bring my- 
self to speak on the subject from the press, till I had 
carried out my thinking on some of its points to a greater 
extent. I have since given myself more than three years 
reflection upon it, and the result is, I am satisfied as to 
the main track of investigation, however much I may be 
dissatisfied with the particular mode of my prosecuting it. 
Had nothing but style or manner been at issue, I should 
have yielded to the solicitations of my friends and pub- 
lished long ago. But so long as the Divine Spirit with- 
held from me the illumination necessary to a satisfactory 



VIU PREFACE. 

understanding of principles at the basis of m}'- subject; 
and the cloud was not " lifted up from off the tabernacle," 
how could I go forward ? 

Though I have omitted from this work the details of 
practical religion, it must not be construed into an under- 
valuation of them, as a means of moral power to the 
church. Far otherwise. To repress in any way the 
aspirings of the new-born affections after holiness of life, 
is like enfeebling by means of bad food, bad clothing and 
defective pay, the army on which an empire relies for 
propping its throne and extending its dominions. Young 
Christians are the sacramental host to extend the arms 
of Immanuel in a coming generation, and to subject 
them to a sickly and enfeebling regimen, is to subtract 
from the effective force by which the Christianity of 
coming ages is to act against the giant evils of the world. 
Through the blessing of God and by the favor of the 
public, we may hereafter, under another form, speak also 
on this part of our subject. 

Rochester^ 3Iarchy 1843. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Simplicity of the Gospel in its end and in its measures of re- 
form Page 37 

CHAPTER II. 

Kature of moral power. — Analysis of it as existing in the 
Chmxh. — Tendency of experimental religion 43 

CHAPTER HI. 

Analogy between the saving efficiency and the forces of na- 
ture 51 

CHAPTER IV. 

Causes that tend to divert attention from the increase of moral 
power in the Church • 60 

CHAPTER V. 
Indications of an increase of moral power in the Church. . . 73 

CHAPTER YI. 

Settlement of the general principle as to the mode of acquiring 
greater efficiency in doing good, — and also, as to the results 
to be expected from its exercise ,93 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Tenacity of uninspired dogmas, an unpromising mode of entering 
into God's plan 103 

CHAPTER VIII. 

An increase of moral power in the cliurcli cannot be expected, 
neither from being greatly devoted to existing ecclesiastical 
establishments, nor from the creation of new "ones. . . 114 

CHAPTER IX. 

An elementary and critical view of the work to be accomplished, 
in its consummation and in the several stages of its progress, 
as a means of increasing our power for its accomplishment. 127 

CHAPTER X. 

The same subject continued. — Necessity of concentrating our 
applications of truth to the single point of producing faith 
and its concomitant graces 139 

CHAPTER XL 

On acquainting ourselves with the adjustments of truth to the 
instinctive tendencies of man's nature, as a means of increasing 
the moral power of the Church 154 

CHAPTER XIT. 

The same subject continued. — On the adaptation of the Bible, 
both in matter and manner, to the spiritual instincts of man's 
nature, and the power which would accrue to the Church by 
following its example . 169 

CHAPTER XIIL 

On the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as the great desideratum 
to an increase of moral power in the Church. — Appropriate- 
ness of the blessing to the nature of man. — Its relation to 
previous dispensations. — Its permanency 185 



CONTENTS. . XI 



CHAPTER Xn^ 

Same subject continued. — ^Attitude of mind necessary to receive 
tlie Spirit. — Its effects. — Means for enjoying it in enlarged 
measures 203 

CHAPTER XV, 

On analyzing and combining the elements of a revival.— Internal 
elements 223 

CHAPTER XVI, 

On analyzing and combining the elements of a revivaL — External 

elements 237 

Conclusion 257 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Author of the following treatise is favorably known 
to the religious public as an original thinker and a forci- 
ble writer. His two principal works, entitled '^ Philoso- 
phy of Benevolence/' and '' Prize Essay on Religious 
Dissensions," ha\fe been read by many with profit j and 
though they may not, like some other productions upon 
the same or kindred subjects, have been extensively pop- 
ular, yet the important principles which tjiey vigorously 
inculcate have found a genial home in many minds, 
where they are working out results in individual charac- 
ter of the most salutary kind — results which are strongly 
conservative as well as impulsive in their influence upon 
the activities and the spirit of a more intelligent class of 
the sons of Zion. If such works shall, either in the pres- 
ent or the succeeding generation, pass away among the 
neglected and forgotten, it will not be because they are 
" behind the times" — for that is the last condemnation to 
which they can possibly be obnoxious — but rather be- 
cause they are superseded by others whose standard of 
Christian excellence is far less elevated, whose captiva- 
tions of style render them more attractive; and whose 
shallowness of thought makes them more acceptable to 
2 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

an age that reads only as it runS; and reads that it may 
run the faster. 

It is good — it is refreshing, to meet with a book — be it 
great or small — of modern authorship, which, while it 
countenances and encourages Progress — accelerated Pro- 
gress in all good things— supplies the true principles by 
which that Progress is to be impelled and governed, so as 
to reach, not only most expeditiously but most wisely and 
most safely the best termination. Such, in one depart- 
ment, is the object of the comprehensive treatise which 
this article introduces and commends to the candid atten- 
tion of '' the household of faith." The subject of which 
it treats in its brief chapters — Increase of Moral Power 
in the Church of Christ — will readily strike every thought- 
ful Christian as possessing an importance beyond the or- 
dinary range of religious questions, and as entitled to 
careful, meditative consideration. The author probably 
does not expect that all minds will come at once to his 
own point of observation, and view every part of the sub- 
ject in the same light that he does, or in the same state of 
the intellectual and moral faculties. In some particulars, 
neither his philosophy nor his interpretative application of 
certain passages of Scripture, may be altogether satisfac- 
tory 5 because, when tried by that ^' form of doctrine" in 
which the reader was long since theologically moulded, 
they may not be found to wear the favorite " image and 
superscription." Both the rigid Augustinian and the 
flexible Pelagian will be dissatisfied that their uninspired 
dogmas are so unceremoniously set at naught ; and the 
inveterate ultraists of every school, whether "old" or 
"new," whether "supra" or " subter," will be surprised 
to see how effectually an independent thinker can hew a 
highway intermediate between the Jerusalem and the 
G-erizim of their cherished orthodoxies. Possibly, too. 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

some of the more moderate may occasionally hesitate, 
and reserve for further examination the question touching 
the legitimacy of a few of the Author's positions. 

Butj whatever may be thought of some of the minor 
details of the discussion, it will not be denied that very 
important practical principles are here evolved and set in 
a strong light ; nor will it be doubted that the tendency 
of the work, as a whole, must be favorable to the ad- 
vancement of a most desirable object. It is manifestly 
the product of that peculiar revival spirit by which the 
author has been surrounded and penetrated; and it is 
not difficult to foresee that it will encounter the fewest 
objectors, and be the most warmly welcomed where the 
same spirit has prevailed in its greatest purity and power. 
It is considerably in advance of the great body of the 
Christian host, and will find its sympathetic chords espe- 
cially in those who, '^ forgetting the things which are be- 
hind, and reaching forth unto those things which are be- 
fore," in a scriptural way '^ press toward the mark for 
the prize" of their '^high calling," earnestly desirous? 
both as to personal holiness and useful efficiency, to " ap- 
prehend that for which they also are apprehended of 
Christ Jesus." 

The Duty to be useful to the largest possible extent in 
the advancement of religion, is imposed upon the Chris- 
tian Church, not only by positive command, but by all 
the relations which she sustains to her exalted Head, and 
to the "world which lieth in the wicked One." No con- 
sideration but absolute impotency, or a direct counter- 
mand from her King, or an entire change of her spiritual 
relations, can release her, or any of her constituent por- 
tions from this comprehensive obligation. And it would 
not be difficult to show that in this arrangement there is 
a wise and benevolent regard to the highest welfare of 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

the Church as well as of the world for whose recovery to 
holiness and to heaven she is required to pray, and labor, 
and deny herself, and sometimes suffer. O when will 
the Church of Jesus perceive the direction in which lies 
her true interest, and practically realize that to enjoy in 
its fulness the benediction of her Lord, she must make 
him her Pattern — she must ^' follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth !" 

The Desire to be useful, and useful to soids, is connat- 
ural to the Christian character. It is one of the earliest 
throbbings of the " new heart j" and as it is clearly in- 
dicative of '^ newness of life," so it is uniformly found, 
that as the child of God advances toward '^ the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ," this desire is 
sure to 

" Grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength." 

In Christ, our Model, it existed in perfection ; and it in- 
creases in the believer just in proportion as his character, 
inward and outward, acquires conformity to that of his 
incarnate Lord. And thus we are furnished with a valu- 
able test by which to try the piety of those who profess 
to have made large attainments in Christian HoUness. 
Do they selfishly make their own hearts the focal point of 
all good, and consume their whole time and resources in 
feeding the altar-fires of inward and pent-up enjoy- 
ment ; or do their thoughts and solicitudes and sympa- 
thies go out in quest of the perishing, and, like him who 
"came not to be ministered unto but to minister," do 
they endeavor '^to seek and to save that which is lost?" 
When they would lay themselves in channels along 
which flow the waters " clear as crystal," is it solely that 
they may be refreshed and happy ; or also that they may 
be invigorated for holier and more effective service ? 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

When, in their frequented and worn ^^kneeling-place" 
they lift their cry, '' Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
and renew a right spirit within me," is it merely because 
God has said that without holiness no man shall see him • 
or is it also that they may be the undefihng conveyancers 
of influence from the Upper Reservoir to the sufiering 
^^ round about " them ? When they pray, individually or 
jointly, gently or vociferously, '^ Restore unto me the joy 
of thy salvation -, and uphold me with thy free Spirit," is 
it that they may be better qualified to teach transgressors 
God's ways, and so have an agency in their conversion ? 
In their desires for a '^ deepening of the work of grace" 
in their own hearts, and in their efforts to cultivate the 
constituent graces that compose, in their harmonious de- 
velopment, the " beauty of holiness," have they regard 
to something without themselves — something higher than 
self can compass, and for the accomplishment of which 
they need an '^ increase of Moral Power?" — such an in 
crease as results only from genuine Moral Improvement ? 
When they have their sweetest seasons at their devotions, 

"And Heaven comes down their souls to greet, 
Beneath the blood-bought Mercy-seat," 

have they the clearest views of the condition and pros- 
pects of the impenitent, and are they the most heavily 
^'burdened" with intense anxiety for their conversion to 
God, so that they can sympathize with the holy Apostle 
who had " great heaviness and continual sorrow in his 
heart," and could cheerfully submit to any sacrifice — 
even to be '' accursed from Christ," for the sake of sin- 
ners whose salvation he desired ? John Knox was over- 
heard pleading in tones of agony, '^ Give me Scotland, or 
I die!" Is their piety of such a fibre, clinging with a 
death-grasp to the Angel of the Covenant, and refusing a 
2# 



XVlll INTRODXTCTION. 

denial? Do they, under the iniiuence of their best feel- 
ings, go forth into the *' briery and brambly world" npon 
enterprises of mercy, and are the '' highways and hedges- ' 
witnesses to their self-denying and unwearied efibrts to 
^' compel" the unbidden to come in and fill that house 
where '''all things are ready," and where even the 
^' hired servants have bread enough and to spare ?'- 

It is doubtless an universal truth, that the Christian 
disciple who has the most of the Spirit of his Master is 
the most earnestly desirous to be useful in the conv^ersion 
and sanctification of his fellow men ; and it is quite as 
true, that, other things being equal, his ability to do good 
is greatest. Lives there an intelligent being in heaven, 
earth or hell who does not know that Holiness is Power? 
-And if the inquiry pertain to the individual Christian, or 
to a community of belieVers ecclesiastically organized, or 
to the aggregate of the truly converted, broadly styled 
The Church, '^ How can Moral Power be increased to the 
greatest possible extent ?" the honest answer from all 
worlds is, ''By the greatest possible increase of Holi- 
ness." 

The term Power, when predicated of a Christian, is 
necessarily used in a qualified and subordinate sense, 
wddely difierent from the acceptation in which we employ 
it with respect to his Almighty Ally, the Holy Spirit. 
We mean by it, not the inherent ability of an independent 
agent, but rather the possession of those qualities which 
adapt him, by active efibrt, to the accomphshment of a 
given object. There is doubtless such a thing as adapta- 
tion to usefulness in the advancement of religion in the 
souls of men, and this renders the Christian in whom it 
exists, a suitable agent, from whose well-directed exer- 
tions c-ertain results may be rationally expected. This 



1& 

INTRODUCTION. XIX 

adaptation, we suppose, may not improperly be denomi- 
nated Power. 

Yet it is not the adaptation of an Instrument— a term 
which ought never to be applied, as it should never be 
applicable to the Christian— for it denotes what a moral 
being should never be — something inert and passive, and 
capable of being useful only as it is used by an intelligent 
agent. It has no intention, and is responsible for nothing. 
Such should not be — such is not the Christian. The 
Lord of the harvest does not use his reaper as that 
reaper uses his sickle — a mere instrument — but he em- 
ploys him as an agent, an active being, capable of 
using the instrumentality which has been appointed 
and adapted to the production of intended results ; and 
for the/aithful discharge of this duty'he is' held responsi- 
ble, with considerations attached, by way of reward and 
penalty, of the most solemn import. He has the faculty 
of speech, by means of which he can modify the views, 
awaken the feelings, influence the decisions, and shape 
the character and conduct of others. He has the con- 
trol of his own actions, and by their character and direc- 
tion he can make impressions upon the minds of his fel- 
low-beings, — impressions whose efficiency for good or for 
evil shall be as important as is the well-being of souls, 
and as permanent as their immortality. He is placed in 
certain relations lo the Source of infinite power and " all 
grace," through the medium of Vv'hich he can obtain for 
himself and others the greatest of all blessings ,• for to 
him it is said from above, '^ Call upon me, and I will an- 
swer, and show thee great and mighty things w^hich thou 
knowest not." He is therefore regarded and treated by 
his Lord as an agent, endowed with ability to be useful, 
and as furnished with all needed facilities for the increase 
of that ability to ^an extent whose limits have never yet 



XX INTRODUCTION. ^ 

been defined, and as therefore responsible for such an 
increase and such an application of his ability as shall 
make him useful to the largest possible degree. 

The simple question that is especially pertinent at this 
point, relates to the most effectual means by which the 
power of the Church of Christ for useful purposes may 
be increased. Much might be said of Talent as Power, 
and of Knowledge as Power, and of Cultivation as 
Power ; but far more can be said, not only as fair infer- 
ence from Sacred History, but as the result of actual ex- 
perience in every age of the Church, that, pre-eminently. 
Holiness is Power ; — and we greatly misconceive if the 
crying want of the Church of Christ at the present mo- 
ment, with special reference to her high mission, which is 
but the perpetuity of the mission of him who said, ^' As 
my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," is not so 
much talent, or intelligence, or any of the helps which 
are earth-born, as a large increase of that Holiness which 
consists, not in a morbid contemplatism, or in sentimental 
fervors, but in a sober practical conformity of the indi- 
vidual members to the will of God. Let her be compos- 
ed of such as are "rooted and built up in Christ," living 
the lives which they live in the flesh " by the faith of the 
Son of God," and daily adding virtue to their faith, and 
knowledge to their virtue, and temperance to their knowl- 
edge, and patience to their temperance, and godliness to 
their patience, and brotherly kindness to their godliness, 
and Charity as the crowning quality of all, and her Moral 
Power will be increased. Let her members be all that the 
precepts of the gospel require them to be, and all that the 
provisions of the gospel, received by faith, would enable 
them to be, and her ability to do good will be at once and 
amazingly augmented. Let her members dwell near to 
their Lord, and as he breathes upon them, " receive the 



INTRODUCTION. XXI 

Holy Ghost,'' so as to be '^filled with the Spirit," and she 
will find herself ^' endued with Power from on high," 
needing no longer to ^^ tarry in Jerusalem," but fully- 
girded for the world's speedy conquest. 

The great Evil to be overcome is Sin. What but Ho- 
liness is its proper antagonist ? The persons to be benefit- 
ted are sinners. AVho but holy men can essentially bene- 
fit them ? The character of the agency must be adapted 
to the nature of the object to be accomplished. That ob- 
ject — the recovery of lost sinners to holiness and heaven — 
is pre-eminently spiritual, and he who would most effi- 
ciently promote it must himself be ^' spiritually-minded." 
How feeble were the primitive Christians before the day 
of Pentecost ; how timid, inconstant, inefiective ! After 
the Divine Influence came upon them, and such wonder- 
ful changes were wrought in their personal piety, how 
bold were they, how resolute, how patient, how persever- 
ing ! How extraordinary was their power of endurance, 
their power of overcoming obstacles, their power of de- 
veloping and enforcing Divine truth, their power of argu- 
ment, their power of appeal ! " Strengthened with might 
in the inner man," they went forth with the weapons 
which are " mighty through God," assaulting the strong- 
est holds of sin, grappling with Satan's veteran phalanxes, 
and winning for their Prince a thousand bloodless victories. 
How soon and how surely did the nations feel and confess 
the power of these evangelical giants. Aiming at a holy 
end, influenced by holy motives, governed by a holy rule -, 
divinely illuminated, supported, protected, they said what 
no others could say, they did what no others could do, 
they endured what no others could endure • and, passing 
from province to province, we hear them ever and anon 
exclaiming, " Thanks be unto God who always causeth 



XXll INTRODUCTION. 

US to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor 
of his knowledge by us m every place. ^' 

Let the Christians of our day be such in Moral Char- 
acter as were the primitive disciples, and then may they 
be such in Moral Power. Then will they be so spiritual 
as to be fitted to the achievement of spiritual conquests. 
Then will they have that sympathy with their object which 
will make them feel that they are identified with it^ and 
will lead them to consecrate to its accomplishment their 
undivided and untiring energies. Sympathy is Power. 
Then will they be the subjects of a faith under the influ- 
ence of which they shall "out of weakness be made 
strong/' so as to be able to accomplish what would other- 
wise be impracticable. " All things," said Jesus, " are 
possible to him that believeth.'' Faith is Power. Then 
too will they be deeply imbued with that affectionate spirit 
which shall render their manner winning, and their spirit 
melting. Their words, bathed in their hearts' sensibility, 
shall soften whatever they touch, and souls, hard and 
cold as the Alpine glacier, shall dissolve under their influ- 
ence like wax in the rays of the summer sun. Love is 
Power. And then, above all, will they be better qualified 
than now for the work of intercession. Our heavenly Ad- 
vocate is a prevailing Pleader because he is '' Jesus Christ 
THE kig-hteous,'' for there, as elsewhere. Holiness is 
Power. Jacob had "power with God and prevailed;'* 
and so had Moses, and Elijah, and Isaiah, and Daniel, as 
well as the Apostles, and the legitimate conclusion from 
facts as well as testimony is, that " The eflectual fervent 
prayer of the righteous man availeth much." Prayer 
is Power ; and they who get the nearest to the throne, 
and enjoy with him that sitteth thereon the most familiar 
and endeared communion, have the most of that mysteri- 
ous influence ; for to such God has in his condescension 



INTRODUCTION. XXlil 

said, " Concerning the work of my hands command ye 
me." And Jesus has said, '^If ye abide in me, and my 
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall 
be done unto you." Prayer is Power. 

Every element of character that enters into the compo- 
.sition of Holiness is an element of Moral Power, and 
just in proportion as these elements are developed and 
strengthened will be the Increase of Moral Power. To 
this point, then, let the Church, in all her departments, 
give immediate and earnest attention. Let her welcome 
the conviction, and let the conviction be practical, that 
her ability to do good is in proportion, not to her numbers, 
not to her wealth, not to her intelligence, but to her Holi- 
ness ; and that until she has a large increase of Holiness 
in both her ministry and her membership, she has no rea- 
son to expect the universal triumph of the cause of truth 
and righteousness. 

B. S. 



INCREASE OF MORAL POWER. 



CHAPTER I. 



SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL IN ITS END, AND IN 
ITS MEASURES OF REFORM. 

There is no desire in the human heart which 
SO much assimilates to God, as that of increasing 
the happiness by improving the virtue of man- 
kind. Unlike those animal sympathies possess- 
ed in common by the good and the bad, which 
impel to the relief of suffering without regard to 
amending the character of the sufferer, this de- 
sire unites with a benevolent interest in the diffu- 
sion of happiness, the severe justice of denying 
the right of it to any, except those who are wil- 
ling to conform themselves to the requisitions of 
holiness and truth. Hence, it is an emanation 
of heaven itself, where love, instead of being a 
blind impulse, is so blended with equity and law, 
as to constitute that quality which is singled out 



tJS SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL 

before all others, in those exalted ascriptions of 
praise, which consist in crying holy, holy, holy. 

Whence therefore, oould the heart of man, so 
much the victim of lawless impulses and so little 
schooled in the principles of immutable right, 
have acquired the mysterious impulse which has 
given being to those organized plans of persua- 
sion, for turning men from sin to holiness, upon 
which there has been so vast an expenditure of 
treasure and talent, of labor and life. Nothing 
of the kind is to be found among the proudest 
and most benign projects of unevangelized mind. 
The brightest names of Grecian and Roman his- 
tory, give no evidence of an attempt to direct 
their philanthropy into channels so extraordinary. 
Which of the philosophers had his disciples per- 
ambulating the states of Greece or the provinces 
of Rome, to expend upon the mass of the people 
the arts of a bland and persuasive eloquence, to 
induce in them the choice of love for hatred, of 
humility for pride, and of holiness for sin, as the 
sole means of unburdening them of their woes 
and raising them to the summit of temporal pros- 
perity and to eternal life ? Was it Plato ? Sen' 
eca ? Socrates ? 

Let the gladiatorial shows, the wars of inno- 
cent captives with the beasts of the amphitheatre, 
and all the deeds of cruelty and blood, which 
.were enacted for the entertainment of these sages 



IN ITS END AND MEASURES. 39 

and the polite circles in which they moved, utter 
their facts on this subject, that it may be' seen 
how remote from the purest and brightest visions 
of the human mind, apart from heavenly Hght, 
are those plans of reformation which contemplate 
relieving the mass of mankind of their woes, by 
dispossessing them of the demons of pride, of 
lust, of fraud and of every a.bomination. A}^ 
these are plans at which infidels may find it con- 
venient to sneer, since they have no arguments 
with which to disprove the impress of a Divine 
original, which they carry on their bold front. 
Even had failure attended the enterprise, and the 
voice of persuasive love had won no convert to 
such a mode of being happy, yet the bare attempt 
evinces a heavenly origin, since it is so much 
above any thing the greatest and best of this 
world had ever conceived. 

It was the object upon which Jesus and his 
apostles had fixed, that determined their choice 
of measures. Embattled legions were unavaila- 
ble to the work of bringing men to the uncon- 
strained choice of virtue for vice, of truth for 
falsehood, of God for the world. Is physical 
force, under any of its possible forms, a fitting 
instrument to control the human will ? 

Moreover the peculiar nature of the control 
which they undertook to exercise over the will, 
still further restricted them in their choice of ex- 



^-^ 
% 



40 SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL 

pedients. Could sinners be won to humility by 
feeding their pride ; or to benevolence by an ap- 
peal to their selfishness ? Did not those who 
were attracted by the loaves and fishes, soon go 
away to walk no more with Christ ? Had world- 
ly titles, pecuniary rewards, glittering insignia, 
posthumous distinctions and all the pomp and cir- 
cumstance of earthly greatness, been held up in 
the gospel to invite the hopes of mankind, they 
would have defeated the ends of its reformation. 
In aspect, its author must be the poorest of the 
poor, his associates the ofiscouring of all things, 
his service a self-denying and cross-bearing one, 
and the way to which he invited men, must be 
the way every where spoken against. The young 
nobleman's incipient tendencies to discipleship, 
must be repressed by restrictions which his oth- 
erwise amiable but avaricious feelings could not 
brook ; and the royal Herod's curiosity to see the 
great miracle- worker must be turned into con- 
tempt and ridicule, by silence and inaction. Such 
is the nature of the reformation at which the 
gospel aims, as to require an excision of carnal 
feelings reached forth to take hold of it, as the 
sailor would chop off the hand which is grap- 
pling his ship with a view of boarding it. 

Evangelical reform, therefore, is as excellent 
in its object, as it is peculiar in its means. Had 
it proposed an increase of our resources of wealth, 



IN ITS END AND MEASURES. 41 

mechanical skill, knowledge of diseases or the 
modes of their cure, or had any earthly interest 
been the great end which it had in view, it might 
have united physical with moral power, taken 
advantaofe of the various forms of human selfish- 
ness, and thus modelled its policy after the king- 
doms of this world. As a system, Christianity 
assumes that its own incorporation with the affec- 
tions of mankind — directing the desires, control- 
ing the motives, fixing the principles, exalting the 
uspirations, kindling the hopes and bringing the 
soul into sublime communion with God — is the 
only cure of the evils, moral, civil, intellectual 
and even physical, w^hich infest the human char- 
acter and condition. 

Upon this object, Jesus and his apostles ex- 
pended the labor of their lives and the last drop 
of their martyred blood. He came to seek and 
save, not the lost to science, nor the lost to the 
arts of civil policy or domestic life, nor the lost 
to health and temporal prosperity ; but the lost to 
holiness and to God. They followed in his foot- 
steps and made it the undivided aim of their lives 
to enthrone God in the affections of the soul. 
The language of one developes the policy of all : 
Though I be free from all men, yet have I made 
myself servant of all that I might gain the more ; 
that is, gain their minds to truth, their hearts to 

holiness and their services to Christ, And unto 

4# 



42 SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL, ETC. 

the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the 
Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under 
the law, that I might gain them that are under 
the law : to them that are without law, as with- 
out law, (being not without law to God, but under 
the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that 
are without law. To the weak became I as weak, 
that I might gain the weak. I am made all things 
to all men, that I might by all means save some. 
These arts of a persuasive adaptation, open to 
a field of exhaustless enterprise, inviting the cul- 
tivation of all the redeemed on earth, from the 
least to the greatest of them. It is an enterprise 
that finds a congenial chord in every converted 
soul. The husband and wife, the parent and 
child, the brother and sister, the ruler and sub- 
ject, and all, however related to each other or to 
general society, as well as those who minister at 
the altar, become pledged by the vows of their 
consecration, to exert the utmost of their ability 
in winning all hearts to the service of their Mas- 
ter. Can we, therefore, overrate the importance 
of being skilled in Christian persuasion, or place 
too high an estimate on the moral power of the 
church to the interests of mankind ? 



CHAPTER II. 



NATURE OF MORAL POWER ANALYSIS OF IT AS 

EXISTING IN THE CHURCH TENDENCY OF EX- 
PERIMENTAL RELIGION. 

Moral poiver^ in its most comprehensive sense, 
is the injiuence of mind over mind^ or the capabili- 
ty which one possesses for giving direction to the 
sentiment and conduct of another. And it is good 
or bad, according as it is used in favor of virtue 
and truth, or otherwise. It is on the strength of 
moral power, that the infidel relies for the infu- 
sion of his poison, as well as the. Christian for 
the propagation of his faith. Yea, it is this that 
ensures for the sentiment and practice of one gen- 
eration, a transmission to its successor on the 
busy theatre of the world. 

As to its existence, there can be no doubt. All 
our arts and efforts of persuasion, our books, 
plans of education, judicial and legislative plead- 
ings and impleadings, and various measures 
for controlling the voluntary decisions of man- 
kind, are based in the assumption that there is 
this power of mind over mind. Between intel- 
lectual and moral natures, it answers to the 



44 NATURE OF MORAL POWER. 

reciprocal action and reaction that binds material 
bodies together. The particles cohering in the 
same rock or tree, are chained to each other by 
the most intimate and mysterious affinities. Not 
an orb of immensity, also, but may claim its 
share of influence in making our globe what it 
is, and in describing its track through the ethe- 
rial expanse. And, as we rise from unorganized 
nature, to the principle of life existing in vegeta- 
bles and upwards, we find still more subtle bonds 
of coherence. The blade of corn, springing up 
alone, denies its fruit, because no kindred blade 
is near to supply the fructifying energy. 
Among fishes, quadrupeds and fowls, also, some 
element of animal sympathy binds them in 
schools, droves and flocks, and no one would be 
complete without his kindred. Similar affini- 
ties extend to intellectual natures, and the term 
moral power may include all the principles of 
connexion and coherence between them, and 
especially those by means of which they exercise 
a mutual control over each other's voluntary deter- 
minations. 

I apply the term church to all truly converted 
persons. And when I speak of moral power 
among them, I refer to the agency which they 
exert for their own mutual sanctification and in 
the regeneration of sinners. By analyzing this 
agency, it will be found to include, in addition to 



NATURE OF MORAL POWER. 45 

the ordinary influence of man with man, that of 
revealed truth and the Holy Spirit. Though 
nothing- may appear in the conversion and sancti- 
fication of sinners, but the ordinary means of 
suasion, yet a close inspection of the facts in the 
case, will reveal to us these several influences all 
blended in one. 

That the simple influence of mind over mind, 
unaided by the word of truth, cannot produce 
those particular effects which are involved in a 
sinner's conversion to holiness, is proved by the 
fact that they have never existed where the Bi- 
ble has not reflected its light. Were the emo- 
tions of evangelical repentance, faith, or love, 
€ver kindled by means of the Koran, the philos- 
ophy of Plato, or any other system of religious 
or philosophical belief ? No : how can we be- 
lieve in him of whom we have not heard, or ex- 
ercise the emotions which depend upon a certain 
order of facts, when these facts have never been 
made known to us ? 

And the word of truth, as contained in the 
documents which inspired men have left us, with- 
out living agents to translate, preach, explain and 
enforce them, cannot be to any extent efficient 
in conversions. It is by the foolishness oi preach- 
ings an exercise implying the presence of a liv- 
ing agent in enforcing divine truth, that God has 
determined to save them that believe. And that 



46 NATURE OF MORAL POWER. 

the Holy Spirit does supply some element of 
efficiency, in addition to the foregoing, in order 
to the conversion of sinners, is clearly taught by 
our Saviour, when he directs his disciples to 
tarry at Jerusalem, till they should be endued 
with 'power from on high, I have planted, Apol- 
los watered ; but God gave the increase. It is 
this divine agent, that he promises as the perma- 
nent gift of his church, to remain with her for- 
ever. 

Indeed, the concurrence of these several ele-* 
ments of efficiency, in God's plan of reform, is dis- 
tinctly recognized in such passages as the follow- 
ing : Whom we preach, warning every man, and 
teaching every man ; that we may present every 
man perfect in Christ Jesus : Striving according 
to his working which worketh in us mightily. 
Here we have, first, the living preacher denoted 
by the pronouns loe and us^ employing the ordi- 
nary influence of man with man ; second, the 
word of truth included in the " whom^' or Christ 
Jesus, whose character, history and work fur- 
nished the theme of his preaching ; and third, 
the Spirit's influence as manifested in the power 
that wrought in him mightily. 

Now, these several elements of power meet in 
all truly converted persons, for a man cannot be 
converted short of this result. He has some de- 
gree of influence over the voluntary decisions of 



NATURE OF MOKAL POWER. 47 

his fellow-men, or he would be too low in the 
scale of being to be capable of such a work ; his 
mind is furnished with some knowledge of the 
truth as it is in Jesus, for faith comes by hearing, 
and hearing by the word of God ; and he has be- 
sides a measure of the Spirit to profit withal, 
for the Spirit divideth to every man severally as 
he will. That errors in doctrine and practice are 
intermixed among these converts, affords no rea- 
son for excluding them from our consideration ; 
especially as it is the humble endeavor of 
these pagas, to remove from them so serious a 
cloof to their influence both with God and with 
man. What can be more desirable, than that 
they should all be brought to contribute their full 
share to the whole stock of moral power in the 
churclx, and to give up whatever tends to enfee- 
ble their energies for the conversion of the 
world ? 

Cliris:tian brethren, here is the great concern 
with you, with me, with us all. Christ did not 
take us out of the world at our conversion, be- 
cause our various connexions and affinities with 
its guilty and suffering inhabitants, peculiarly 
fitted us to be his agents for reclaiming and re- 
lieving them. As brothers, friends, neighbors, 
fellow-citizens and fellow-travellers to eternity, 
and even as sharing with them in the same lot 
of wo, we have peculiar advantages for restoring 



48 NATURE OF MORAL POWER. 

them to purity and peace. Will we not, therefore, 
urge them to the utmost possible extent ? Will 
we not enter their abodes with words of pursua- 
sive love upon our lips, unfolding to their view 
the transcendent glories of Christ, and pleading 
with them in his stead to be reconciled to God ? 
Will we not make the art of Christian influence 
and pursuasion, a subject of earnest study, that 
we may turn its full force in favor of truth and 
salvation ? 

How interesting, how solemn the thought, that 
God should take our feeble influence into con- 
nexion with his own word and Spirit, to make 
out a new and unique power, to act upon this 
world for its recovery to holiness and bliss ? 
What wonders were wrought, during a period of 
four thousand years, to supply the revealed ele- 
ment in this mighty efficiency ! What agony 
and blood did it cost the adorable Son of God, 
to procure the gift of the Spirit ! And when 
that Spirit wrought in our conversion, did he not 
kindle in us the evangelizing fire ? Did not the 
worth of souls, the glory of Christ, the judg- 
ment seat in prospect, with the ensuing bliss of 
an endless heaven, or misery of an endless hell, 
extort from us the earnest prayer. Lord, what 
can I do to pull sinners out of the flames of im- 
pending wrath ? Yea, did not every principle 
begotten in us by the Holy Spirit, act with 



NATURE OF MORAL POWER. 49 

impulsive force, stirring us up to do something 
in the great enterprise of Christian benevolence ? 

And shall we wantonly put out the lights of 
divine truth, through our neglect or our heresies ? 
Shall we grieve, quench and resist the Holy 
Ghost ? Shall we hide the heavenly light under 
a bushel ? Shall we, on whom hangs the last 
hope of a suffering race, throw away our ener- 
gies on inferior objects, and thus withhold the 
bread of life from millions who are ready to 
perish ? 

Both the Christianity of the Bible, and that 
which has been wrought into our hearts, so far 
as we have any, invariably tends towards the 
salvation of perishing men. The love of Christ 
constraineth us because we thus judge, that if 
one died for all, then were all dead. Knowing 
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. The 
great question is. What will give to our efforts of 
Christian persuasion the greatest efficiency ? We 
occupy a most responsible situation. We are 
like men on the firm coast, opposite to which a 
broken wreck, covered with living multitudes, 
lies dashing in the foaming surf. It is no time 
to theorize but to act. Each is bound by all the 
ties of humanity, to do his utmost to rescue the 
ship-wrecked multitude from a watery grave. 
And if he recognize among them his own kin- 
dred and friends, or if he have himself just escap- 
5 



50 NATURE OF BIORAL POWER. 

ed from their perilous condition, what additional 
strength would the appeal to his sympathies ac- 
quire ! 

This is our condition. Millions on millions of 
souls are exposed to the eternal damnation of 
hell ! Each succeeding wave of time bears off 
some beyond the reach of our prayers, tears and 
labors. Not a moment is to be wasted. Every 
thing tender in Christian sympathy, and fervent in 
holy love, calls upon us in tones of thunder, What 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. 



CHAPTER III. 



ANALOGY BETWEEN THE SAVING EFFICIENCY AND 
THE FORCES OF NATURE. 

We have seen that the power which is directly- 
active in saving men from their sins, unites three 
several elements, no one of which is ever exert- 
ed independently of the others. The Spirit no 
more saves without the word and the church, 
than the church can save without the word and 
the Spirit. Perhaps he cannot do it, consistently 
with the laws of mind and accountable agency. 
But of this it is unnecessary that we should 
speak. 

It is alike unnecessary, also, to vex ourselves 
with the question, whether the Spirit acts solely 
through the medium of motive in the view of the 
mind, or whether he exerts an influence adsciti- 
tious to motive. As long as the word and the 
church, as well as the Spirit, sustain such a given 
relation to a conversion, whenever it takes place, 
it is not worth while to trouble ourselves about 
the nature of that relation in the case of each, 
since to all practical purposes, it is the same 



52 THE SAVING EFFICIENCY 

whether it be one way or the other. Let me 
give an illustration, to show the utter folly and 
irrelevancy of spending so much time, to settle 
the claims of the motive or the anti-motive sys- 
tem ; one of the devil's contrivances for diverting 
the energies of Christians from the destruction of 
his own kingdom of darkness to a war among 
themselves. 

Suppose A is a point from which ail influence 
emanates to affect the moral decisions of B ; and 
suppose C is another point from which a similar 
influence reaches B ; and yet that the latter is 
never exerted but in connexion with the former ; 
I ask whether A's influence would not be just as 
necessary, as if it depended upon that alone ? 
Here we have it ; C 



Now, we will suppose that A stands for the word, 
as contained in the Bible and presented by Chris- 
tians, or that it represents motives in the view of 
the understanding; and C is an influence from 
the Holy Spirit which is wholly distinct from such 
motives, although it assimilates with them, runs 
into them, and is never exerted without them. In 
that case would the accompanying influence of 
the Spirit supersede the necessity of the word, 
or be itself superseded ? Would not the fact of 
His never going where Christians had not pre- 



ANID FORCES OF NATURE. 53 

reded him in their applications of the word to the 
mind, make them just as necessary, as if they 
embodied the whole energy by which conversions 
are brought to pass ? 

No matter though the power of the Spirit be 
entirely independent of the means ; no matter 
though the efficiency rest wholly with him and 
the truth have no possible control over the deci- 
sions of the sinner, owning to his hatred of it, or 
any other cause : yet, if it be a fact that the 
Spirit never exerts this efficiency, but in connex- 
ion with the reflected light of the word upon 
the sinner's understanding, and he cannot be- 
lieve in a Saviour of whom he has not heard ; 
then the practical conclusions in regard to the 
necessity of the word, are just the same as if it 
embodied in itself all the power for his conver- 
sion. Thus C 

A 

Now, we will suppose that the line C B 

denotes the influence of the Spirit, being as 
independent of means and everything apart from 
itself, as the energy that gave being to the first 
created object in the universe. And at the same 

time, be it understood, that the line A B 

denotes the means employed to influence sinners 
in the ordinary way of suasion ; and that though 
the work of the Spirit is wholly independent, 
5* 



54 THE SAVING EFFICIENCY 

not even running in the same line with it, nor 
coming in contact till they are united in the 
mind of the sinner after the change of his heart 
is effected, yet, that it is never exerted, except 
when those means sustain a given relation to it. 
Then, in that case again, the practical results 
are precisely the same. The importance of 
placing the means in that given relation, with- 
out which the Spirit never produces the destined 
results, would be just as great, as if they con- 
tained the inherent power of doing the whole 
work. 

Whatever hypothesis may be adopted of the 
nature of the union between the church, the 
word and the Spirit, — yet, let the fact be once ad- 
mitted that conversions to holiness are never ef- 
fected by any one of them by itself, and the con- 
clusion is irresistible, that in their union they 
form a distinct power, that takes rank with the 
forces of nature and the other great powers, 
which God has established to accomplish the 
specific ends of his vast empire. No power can 
be known to us in its simple essence, as it comes 
from God, but only as it is seen operating through 
the channel of intermediate agencies. Who can 
trace the lightning to its source in nature, or fol- 
low its steps in leaping from cloud to cloud, till 
it crosses the field of our vision ? Or who can 
say that the utmost link of the centrifugal and 



AND FORCES OF NATURE. 55 

centripetal forces, producing the intricate, convolv- 
ed, and yet harmonious dance of the spheres, is 
not connected with the throne of the Eternal ! 

Is there any thing, after all, to indicate a 
nearer connexion with God, of the power that con- 
verts and saves sinners, than of any other mem- 
ber of the great family of pov>rers ? Is it not a 
peculiarity in the language of Scripture, to regard 
God as the source of them all ; overturning the 
mountains in his anger ; shaking the pillars of the 
earth ; stopping the sun in his course, and sealing 
up the stars ; spreading out the heavens, and 
treading on the vc^aves of the sea ; binding the 
svv'eet influences of Pleiades, loosing the bands 
of Orion, bringing forth Mazzaroth in his season, 
and guiding Arcturus with his sons f"^ 

Explicit as the Bible is on this point, yet it is 
esteemed heterodoxical to confine our ideas of 
power to the instrument, in nothing but that 
which is exerted in the conversion of sinners. 
We may resign ourselves to the narrow and ab- 
surd illusion, that gravitation, for instance, is a 
property of matter, having nothing to do with 
mind, just as children resign themselves to the 
illusion, that the puppets dancing before them are 
self-moved and have no connexion with the hand 
behind the scene. We may speak of the care 
with which we replenish our granaries, as the 

* Job 9 : & 38. 



56 THE SAVING EFFICIENCY 

fruit of our industry; of seeing as the effect of 
light upon the eyeball, and of a thousand other 
things as the product of secondary causes. 

But it would peril our reputation for ortho- 
doxy, to adopt the same mode of speaking, in 
reference to the production of spiritual changes. 
How would it sound to say, " I have filled my 
church with converts of my own making; re- 
generation is the effect of truth acting upon the 
mind ; or revivals of religion are the work of the 
men engaged in them." And yet examination 
will show, that spiritual influence stands on the 
same level and operates substantially by the same 
laws, with those forces of nature, on which veg- 
etation, seeing, and all other effects depend. 

God is the common fountain and source of all 
the powers, and all alike operate according to 
an established order of sequences. And there 
is nothing peculiar in the power that saves, ex- 
cept in this, that it is not like the other powers 
coeval with the constitution of things, but the 
result of subsequent arrangement and provision. 
But that arrangement and provision once made, 
in the purposes of God ; in the patriarchal and 
Mosaic revelations ; in the ministry of prophets 
and wise men ; in the work, teaching and suffer- 
ing of God's Son ; in the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
and in the constituted church — then the power of 
which they ar^ the org^n to the human mind, 



AND FORCES OF NATURE. 57 

takes rank with all the other powers, and acts 
according" to the same laws of antecedent and 
consequent, of cause and effect. 

The task of classifying even so many of the 
powers of the universe, as fall within the field 
of our observation, small as the number must be 
in comparison of the whole, would seem to be a 
hopeless one ; although it has been attempted 
by a writer that has gained some eminence on 
another subject. He reduces the number of 
classes to seven, answering to " the seven spirits 
which are before God.'"^ These he calls the 
physical, the organic, the psychological, the in- 
tellectual, the moral, the miraculous and the 
spiritual. In the exertion of all these powers, 
there is the same mystery of causation. And 
we can as easily explain the efficiency of preach- 
ing, praying and like instrumentalities, to re- 
new, sanctify and save the soul, as we can ex- 
plain the efficiency of the sunbeams, the soil 
and the showers of summer, to convert such 
myriads of tons of crude matter, into vegetable 
and animal substances and the various forms of 

* Thos. W. Jenkyns " On the Union of the Holy Spirit and the 
Church in the conversion of the world 5" pp. 32 — 54 5 a work of 
which, I believe, there is no reprint in this country. Mr. J. does 
not make all the parts of his subject clear to my mind, and I 
quote him simply as agreeing with my own previous convictions, 
that the power by which souls are saved, observes substantially 
the same laws with the forces of nature. 



58 THE SAVING EFFICIENCY 

beauty and usefulness which characterize organ- 
ized nature. The nearest approach we are able 
to make towards the solution of this mystery, is, 
to regard all instrumentalities as drawing some 
element of efficiency directly from God himself, 
who, as inhabiting his own dwelling place of 
eternity and immensity, keeps its vast material 
and furniture from falling into disuse and going 
to decay. 

He covers himself, however, with a light 
which no man can approach unto, because no 
one can detect that element of efficiency which 
God supplies in all causation. In the power that 
converts and saves us, there seems to be a near- 
er approach to it, than in any thing else ; be- 
cause it has to do directly with our conscious- 
ness. The sinner who is convicted by the word 
and Spirit, and the saint who is filled with all 
the fulness of God, is each conscious of a power 
working within, him, which is independent of all 
instrumentalities. 

But they would doubtless be sensible of the 
same, in all the forces of nature, if they could, 
in an equal degree, subject those forces to the 
test of their own consciousness. The Bible 
certainly represents God as alike present in 
them all, except that by comparing the effects of 
spiritual inj0[uence to a new creation, a resurrec- 
tion from the dead, and the original production 



AND FORCES OF NATURE. 59 

of light when the morning stars sang together 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy, it takes 
pains to set forth the greatness of the change in 
a light so conspicuous, that all might recognize 
the hand of God in it. The application of such 
figures to the working of spiritual influence in 
the soul, may have reference, also, to its being, 
not more directly an emanation from God, than 
the other powers, but to the fact of its being the 
last to take its place in the family, or to the ex- 
traordinary facts, truths and instrumentalities 
which are its appointed organs to the human 
mind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAUSES THAT TEND TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM 
THE INCREASE OF MORAL POWER IN THE 
CHURCH. 

As the influence of man with man, the word of 
truth and the Holy Spirit united, embody the 
saving efficiency, it follows that the real point at 
issue, is, not as to the coincidence of human and 
divine agency, nor how it accomplishes its ends, 
whether it be wholly through the medium of 
motive or partly otherwise ; but simply n^hat are 
the most efficient modes of its exercise ? Are the 
conditions of union between our influence, the di- 
vine word and the Holy Spirit, such as to afford 
the same encouragement to increased efficiency, 
in saving men from endless death, that we antici- 
pate in medical practice, in husbandry and in 
other departments ? 

On this point no doubt seems to be entertain- . 
ed, so far as individual cases are concerned. 
For we know that this power is not alike pos - 
sessed by all, nor does the same person possess it 
at all times in the same degree. Institutions of 
theological education are founded, with the hope 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 61 

of increasing it in the ministry. And what is 
more common, than for Christians to pray that 
God would give them greater power of turning 
conviction in favor of truth and holiness, that the 
weak may be as David, and the house of David 
as the angel of the Lord ? 

But the question is, may not this power be in- 
creased in the principles of its exercise, as well 
as in the aptitudes of individual actors ? It is 
one thing to make old principles subservient to 
somevyhat better results, and quite another to ex- 
change them for those which are better. One 
ship may have enjoyed advantages over another, 
from its construction and the skill of its crew, be- 
fore the magnetic needle was discovered ; but 
that discovery imparted to the whole science of 
navigation, new facilities for accomplishing its 
useful purposes. 

So, may we not anticipate the time, when, 
through the introduction of better principles into 
the art of Christian persuasion, or through the 
infusion of a better spirit into the church at large, 
or through the explosion of existing errors in the 
practices of mankind, or through the discovery of 
facilities in doing good, at present unknown, the 
enterprise of Christian philanthropy will receive 
a fresh impulse, and will go forward with in- 
creased power and momentum ? May we not 
look for energies and results in pious labor, incal- 
6 



62 CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 

culably greater than any at present known ; that 
the progress of conversions to holiness will be 
inconceivably more rapid, and that truth charged 
with lightning from heaven, will rive its way 
through the solid fabrics of error and wickedness, 
prostrating them in its course, and establishing 
the empire of righteousness over the human 
character and condition ? 

Powerful as are the influences leading to 
this result, with which we begin the race of ho- 
liness, a thousand obstructions intervene to de- 
ter us from it, and to give retrogression rather 
than advancement^ as the general rule in the ac- 
tual experience of the great mass of converts. 
Hence, what is a subject of more common re- 
mark, than that none are so skilled in touching 
the sympathies of the impenitent, as a young 
Christian, in the ardor of his first love ? All his 
feelings are nicely adjusted to the impressions of 
the spiritual w^orld ; his soul is melted by con- 
siderations w^hich are inaccessible to the more 
carnal and grovelling. God is with him, in him, 
around him, and he speaks that unsophisticated 
language of the new heart, which has the great- 
est power both with God and with man. Not 
only so, his earnest and continual prayer is, 
Lord, what will thou have me to do ? how shall 
I bring most honor to thy name and most good 
to a suffering world ? a prayer that was never 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 63 

offered in vain. How then should not a life thus 
begun, increase, rather than diminish in its pow- 
ers of pious persuasion ? 

1. The influence of a class of persons in the 
church, who are haunted by the fear of being 
wise above what is ivritten, does somewhat to ac- 
count for this melancholy retrogression. They 
are afraid to admit the possibility of discovering 
new principles of religious efficiency, lest it 
should involve a virtual concession, that the plan 
revealed in the Bible is incomplete. This timid 
feeling evidently keeps some from attempting any 
thing, beyond a snail-like movement, that would 
require millions of ages to secure for benevolence 
and mercy the circumnavigation of the globe. 

But this fear, you perceive, assumes that our 
understanding of the Bible, with its plan and 
means of doing good, is so perfectly identi- 
cal with the thing itself, as to admit of no im- 
provement. And hence, it is the same as if a 
man were to repel the idea of improvements in 
science and the arts, on the principle that our 
present knowledge covers the whole ground, and 
that whatever is contrary to our views, contradicts 
nature itself and is a virtual attempt to teach it 
wisdom. Thus, these disciples of timidity in as- 
sumption^ but of arrogance in fact^ stand aloof 
themselves from all attempts after greater effi- 
ciency in the modes of doing good, while at the 



64 CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 

same time, they throw all manner of obstacles in 
the way of others, by decrying their endeavors as 
being w4se above what is written. 

What ! — have these brethren secured upon 
their own hearts and characters, such a perfect 
transfer of revealed light and love, as to be incapa- 
ble of more ? Have they gone so far as to bring 
the effort for more under suspicion of being he- 
retical, or an attempt to be wise above what is 
written ? These assumptions, which, alas, have 
but too much influence with many to fetter their 
advancement, carry their own condemnation with 
them. 

2. Another means of diversion from the real 
point at issue, is found in the fear of invading 
Godh 'prerogative. To suppose that God has so 
far entrusted the conditions of religious efficien- 
cy to our hands, as to admit of our adding there- 
to or diminishing therefrom, it is imagined by 
some would in effect suspend the whole scheme 
upon our instrumentality. Yea, it would depend 
upon our skill and management, whether Christ 
should see the travail of his soul and be satis- 
fied, or not. Thus, they tell us, that with one 
fell swoop, we should annihilate all the doctrines 
of grace and divine sovereignty, and should make 
the production of religion in the soul, revivals in 
communities, and all the Christian virtues, the 
mere work of contrivance, like that of electricity 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 65 

by turning a crank, or galvanism by the due ad- 
justment of metallic plates. Witli such views, 
therefore, who can blame these timid disciples 
for shunning all attempts at discovering new 
principles of religious efficiency ? 

But why should we introduce the doctrines of 
absolute fate into the conditions of our agency 
in doing good to the souls of men, more than to 
their bodies ? We might say with equal pro- 
priety, that as God has decreed who shall be 
sick and who shall be well, whose diseases shall 
prove mortal and whose shall be cured, therefore 
it is in vain to attempt to improve the science or 
practice of medicine. In all cases where human 
agency is admitted at all, there will be found 
scope for enterprise, for a choice of expedients, 
and for all the conditions of improvement, both 
in the principles and aptitudes for prosecuting the 
destined results. As all admit the participation 
of human agency in the work of conversion, 
therefore, why should they be diverted from ef- 
forts to increase their efficiency, by morbid fears 
of invading the divine prerogatives ? The object 
of such efforts, is not to improve God's plan, but 
to further it ; not to interfere with what belongs 
to him, but only with what belongs to ourselves. 
It is simply to increase our own capabilities for the 
work which he has assigned us, by conforming 
6* 



66 CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 

ourselves more fully to the laws Avhich he has 
established in the kingdom of grace. 

3. A blind devotion to established precedents^ 
also, does much to paralyze the arm of the 
church, by confining her present and future op- 
erations within the exact limit of the past. The 
great mass of mankind are too stupid or too indo- 
lent to aspire to the serene elevation of unmixed 
and unclouded truth. All truth is with them con- 
fined within the limit of what they or their fa- 
thers have thought and done, or what has been 
sanctioned by the party to whose dictation they 
have passively resigned themselves. As the Dutch 
emigrants to our shores were long in dispensing 
with the stone from their bag of meal, by divid- 
ing it so that the part on one side of their beast 
of burden should be an exact counterpoise to 
that on the other, so we are long in being freed 
from the illusion of supposing that the modes of 
operating on the mass of mind to bring it to vir- 
tue and religion, to which we have been accus- 
tomed, must be the only modes that promise effi- 
ciency, or at least the only ones that conform to 
apostolic models. 

Whatever can boast of the ephemeral antiqui- 
ty of one or two hundred years, assumes, to the 
view of most, the consequential airs of a custom 
sanctioned by Paul, Isaiah, Moses, Abraham^ 
and its whole succession of pious men from the 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 67 

foundation of the world. Every thing new to 
the present age, is deemed an innovation upon all 
that is right and ancient, because, forsooth, it is 
an innovation upon established forms, though 
those forms but yesterday were the embryos of in- 
vention. But, are there no possible attainments 
in holiness, in divine knowledge, and in Chris- 
tian efficiency, beyond what may be found in 
those sects whose date is later than the refor- 
mation, or even those who claim a dubious, but 
corrupted descent from apostolic times. Alas 
for the omnipotence of precedent ! Who does 
not see that it is based in ignorance the most 
consummate, and prejudice the most invincible? 
Now, while an influence like this is so pervad- 
ing in the church, inflating her different divis- 
ions w^ith sectarian pride and conceit, and divert- 
ing her from the real question at issue, viz. how 
loe may do most to win souls to Christ and build 
up holiness in the loorld^ — it cannot fail to fetter 
her march in the career of dignity and improve- 
ment. 

4. Christians are deterred from the efforts ne- 
cessary to increase their power of doing good, 
by notions of capriciousness in the operations of 
the Spirit. They seem to suppose, what I have 
before hinted, that the doctrine of sequences is 
not applicable to the kingdom of grace ; that the 
power of the Spirit in the conversion of sinners 



68 CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 

and the sanctification of believers, is not merely 
direct, but direct in a sense to set at defiance all 
fixed laws and arrangements ; that the conditions 
of efficiency may exist loitkoitt success or with it, 
according to the sovereign pleasure of God ; and 
instances are not wanting, in which individuals 
go so far as to suppose that the regenerating 
crisis, in a sinner's experience, takes place 
wholly apart from intermediate agencies. There 
all means lose their influence, and God, by an 
effort of power like the first creative energy in 
the universe, implants the germ of holiness and 
salvation. And it has been common to imagine j 
that texts of Scripture which persons never read 
or thought of, have been brought to their minds 
in a way to convert or convict them ; to regard 
revivals of religion as originating in the sovereign 
pleasure of God, without any special instrumen- 
tality, and, singular as it may seem, it is not un- 
usual to estimate the value of these gracious 
visitations, and the genuineness of their fruits, 
by the amount of means in producing and carry- 
ing them on. The fewer these means, the more 
genuine the work ; and the greater their amount, 
or the more extended the effort on the part of 
Christians, the more dubious the results. This 
is a sort of spiritual homcBopathy , ascribing to 
the least possible amount of human instrumen- 
tality the greater virtue, as the advocates of this 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 69 

system of medical practice deem the millionth 
part of a grain of common salt, more efficacious 
in curing diseases, than a full potion. On 
this principle, we ought to expect in a nation 
with one Bible and one minister of the gos- 
pel, more genuine piety, than in a nation with 
thousands of Bibles and ministers. The truth 
is, it is not the amount of means, either in an 
old fashioned or a new fashioned revival, that 
renders it genuine or spurious, but their nature. 
We can never have too much of the right kind, 
nor too little of the wrong. 

But the practical effect of thus repudiating the 
doctrine of sequences, in matters of religion, is 
that of ascribing our failures in promoting the^ 
work of the Lord, not to ourselves, but to a sove- 
reign withholding of that element in the moral 
power of the church, which the Spirit alone can 
supply. " We have done our part, but God for 
wise reasons has neglected to do his." And the 
testimony of Paul is adduced, in support of these 
views, that God hath mercy on whom he will 
have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. 

This theory of the subject, however, has more 
the character of an emollient to the unquiet con- 
sciences of the indolent and the worldly conform- 
ed, and for all the diseases of neglect and unfaith- 
fulness among Christians, than of an induction of 
facts and philosophy. It is exceedingly conve- 



70 CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 

nient to resolve the results of our own recreant de- 
partures from duty into the sovereign pleasure 
of God. But its commendable qualities in this 
respect, cannot exceed its damnable tendencies, 
as a paralysis upon the energies of the church. 
It is an opiate, inducing an insensibility, whose 
injury to the spiritual health of the body over- 
balances all the advantages of present relief. 

If the saving power is capricious in its opera- 
tions, and there is no such thing as an order of 
conditions that absolutely ensure its presence, it 
is unlike all other energies with which we have 
become acquainted in the government of God. 
So certain are we, in other departments of enter- 
prise, of the absolute fixedness of nature's laws, 
that we never think of ascribing our failures to 
any thing but an ignorance of those laws, or to 
the operation of causes against which we had not 
duly provided. And, if it were otherwise, there 
is no conceiving the mischief that would ensue 
to our unfortunate race. Suppose the attraction 
of gravitation were capricious, sometimes operat- 
ing with one degree of strength, sometimes with 
another, and sometimes not at all ; how suddenly 
and how fatally would it arrest all the occupa- 
tions of life and plunge the world in mourning 
and wo ! It would unsettle the science of hy- 
draulics by diminishing or increasing the force of 
descending water ; it would destroy our scale of 



CAUSES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION. 71 

weights ; it would scatter to the winds of heaven 
the firm foundation of our dwellings ; and no re- 
liance could be placed on any physical object or 
interest. The same also may be said of the laws 
of light, of sound, of electricity, of magnetism, 
of steam, of vegetation, and of all the other forces 
of nature. Capriciousness would convert them 
into instruments of untold disaster and misery to 
the sentient universe. 

Nor can its effects in the spiritual kingdom be 
less destructive to the more important interests of 
the soul's salvation. It would unsettle all the 
connexions of moral cause and effect, discourage 
endeavors towards improvement, make the re- 
wards of virtue and punishm.ents of vice incon- 
stant and uncertain, and annihilate all the securi- 
ties of pardon and salvation from the plan of re- 
deeming mercy. 

So far, therefore, as this doctrine of capricious- 
ness prevails among Christians, and it becomes 
with them a practical sentiment that there is no 
certainty of the connexions between means and 
ends in the kingdom of Christ, — that they may 
attend to all the conditions of success in promot- 
ing the work of the Lord without being success- 
ful, owing to God's taking this method to abase 
the pride of their hearts, or to any other cause, 
so far we may be sure, blight and inefficiency 
will characterize all their measures. But as soon 



72 CAUSES THAT DIVEUT ATTENTION. 

as they begin to feel and act on the principle, 
that the Spirit proceeds uniformly, and never 
withholds his presence from a due adjustment of 
means, then their failures will lead them to search 
out the Achans which obstruct their career of vic- 
tory, and to remove, rather than resign themselves 
to, the obstacles which stand in their way. 

Thus, the fear of being wise above what is 
written and of invading God's prerogatives, to- 
gether with a blind devotion to established pre- 
cedents and prevailing notions of capriciousness 
in the operation of the power that saves, united 
doubtless to other influences of a kindred char- 
acter, divert the energies of multitudes of Chris- 
tians from the real point at issue, of increasing 
their ability to multiply converts to Christ and 
building up holiness in the earth. 



CHAPTER V, 



INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE OF MORAL POWER 
IN THE CHURCH. 

Having seen that conversion to holiness is the 
specific object of the gospel plan of reform — that 
moral power, as combining the ordinary influence 
of one man with another, the word of truth and 
the Spirit's agency, is the sole efficiency for its 
accomplishment ; — and having contemplated, also, 
the increase of this power in the church, as the 
great end which all its members should have in 
view, together with some things tending to divert 
them from it — let us now attend to the prospec- 
tive fact of such increase, or the evidences that 
it will take place, before the great enterprise of 
chris4;ian philanthropy, is fully accomplished. 
Thus far, we trust, our thoughts are of a charac- 
ter, to enlist in their favor the convictions of ev- 
ery judicious mind. That they are not new or 
original, but accord to our every day's observa- 
tions, will give the greater security of this fact* 

We aspire not at presenting new things, so 
much as to separate, analyze and weigh those 
7 



74 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

which are old and familiar ; that we may ascer- 
tain the practical value of each, and in this way 
be saved from a useless expenditure of effort. 
As doing good, in the gospel sense, consists 
primarily in bringing men into conformity with 
the will of God, as revealed in the Bible, how 
manifest is the duty of doing our utmost for this 
object, instead of laboring at points which are for- 
eign to it ! Brethren, shall we expend our efforts 
upon the abstruse question, whether motives in 
the view of the understanding are the sole means 
of conversion, or whether some influence adsci- 
titious to motive is demanded in effecting it ; 
whether the sinner is in a condition of activity 
or passivity, while the work is going on in his 
soul, or others of a like character ? Alas, how 
many will die and go to hell, before it will be 
possible to settle these questions to the satisfac- 
tion of all ! How much reason have we to 
mourn over the waste of talent, which we wit- 
ness, on every hand, in consequence of turning 
aside to questions and things, which are really 
unimportant to the great point ! Brethren es- 
pousing both sides of these questions, and even 
those who know nothing of them whatever, have 
still great power in prosecuting the evangelical 
enterprise. So far as matters of this kind throw 
obstructions in the way of that enterprise, and 
we have a fair hope of obviating them by turning 



OF MOKAL POWER. 75 

aside to reason them, so far we are at liberty to 
do it ; but no farther. God help us to feel in all 
things, as we felt the day of our conversion to 
Christ, that we must not, that we cannot live for 
any thing, but to increase the purity, the power 
and the prevalence of true religion among our dy- 
ing fellow men ! As the desire of doing our ut- 
most, to promote the glory of God in the work of 
salvation, is the strongest enkindled in us by the 
Holy Spirit, why should it be extinguished 
through the pursuit of inferior ends ? Let us, 
therefore, attend to a few considerations, estab- 
lishing the fact of a future increase of Christian 
efficiency, that we may be invited to exertion to- 
wards this great result, by the incentives of a 
consistent hope. 

1. To begin, then, how much do we find in 
the analogy of increased physical and intellect- 
ual 'power ^ to encourage expectation of the same, 
in that of turning the convictions of men in favor 
of truth and holiness. It matters not how it is 
to be effected ; this we shall consider in another 
part of our work ; the prospective fact is all 
with which we have at present any concern. 
And when we consider the march of the human 
mind in every thing else, how can we doubt that 
here its experience will be the same ? We can 
hardly anticipate an end of the cultivations, to 
which man may yet extend the faculties of his 



76 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

own nature, or the circumstances of his being. 
In what art or occupation is our mode of proce- 
dure so perfect, as to preclude amendment ? 
What science has received its last possible con- 
tribution ? Our expectation and zeal of discov- 
ery and invention, were never greater than at this 
moment. The men of no calling, are content to 
pursue the beaten track of their predecessors, but 
are plying every faculty and effort at advance- 
ment. 

Now the mysteries of magnetism are unfolded 
to perfect navigation and commerce — now the 
art of printing dawns upon the world to aid the 
cause of science and letters and to impart to all 
the interests of human life a fresh impetus — now 
philosophy despoils the cloud of its dreaded 
thunder bolt causing it to fall innoxious at our 
feet — now the expansive power of heat acting 
upon water is converted into an agent of locomo- 
tion, enabling us to withstand the violence of 
tide current and storm, in passing trackless seas 
and threading the serpentine course of mighty 
rivers, and, by its increased facilities of inter- 
communication, melting distant nations into one — 
and now again, improvements in all the depart- 
ments of effort and enterprise, too numerous for 
recapitulation, and too important in their results 
to be duly estimated, start into being as at the 
touch of the magician's wand, to produce aston- 



OF MORAL POWER. 77 

ishment and break up all the old channels of in- 
dustry and wealth. Those most interested to 
perpetuate the former mode of doing things, may 
raise their remonstrances against innovation ; 
turnpike companies may preach a crusade against 
railroads, as the certain ruin of the nation ; packet- 
ship masters may cry out against the innovations 
of steam ; and all the sticklers for antiquity, may 
do their utmost to obstruct the car of improve- 
ment ; but it has acquired a momentum too pow- 
erful for resistance, and must speed its way on- 
ward to the distant goal. 

How, therefore, should these signs of improve- 
ment show themselves in every thing, but the act 
of doing good to the souls of men ? Does reli- 
gion preclude enterprise ? Does it throw over 
our faculties a leaden incubus, to repress their 
lofty aspirings, and to discourage the hope of 
greater efficiency, in accomplishing the appropri- 
ate ends of Christian philanthropy ? For shame 
to our guilty imputations on the character of 
Heaven's own economy ! Shall we limit the 
Holy One of Israel ? Shall we pretend that he 
has denied an increase of power in that cause, 
where power is most needed — the cause of man's 
salvation ? Let the dupes of party plead for the 
perfectibility of their sectarian, or anti-sectarian 

schemes — let them cry out against innovation — 

7# 



7S INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

let them watch with jealous concern, all who do 
not follow with them, and, like birds of night, 
shrink from the opening dawn — let them pro- 
ceed in their puny attempts to monopolize om- 
nipotence and force the Almighty to work in 
their own way, and not otherwise ; He that 
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall 
have them in derision. Eternal Providence 
works in grace as in nature, spurning every en- 
closure and diffusing his blessings, like the dew 
drops of the night, over the whole area of hu- 
man interests. What though the vassals of an- 
tiquated systems cry out against change ! What 
though they lay their impious hands upon , 
the ark of God's truth, lest it jostle in its march 
through the world ! What though they as- 
sume to dictate that the heavenly energy shall 
operate in their own way, and not otherwise ! 
The spirit of pious improvement is abroad, and 
the cause of man's redemption will move forward, 
even thooigh they be crushed beneath its 
mighty tread. God has put his hand to the 
work, and it must move on with majesty. The 
human mind is aroused in the greatness of 
strength, and, by the achievements which it has 
already made, gives promise that Christian per- 
suasion will partake of the general advantage in 
this respect* No reason can be assigned why 



OF MORAL POWER. 79 

it should not be subjected to the laws which gov- 
ern in other departments of human energy and 
enterprise. 

2. The continual effort of Christians to advance 
themselves in holiness and to 'persuade sinners to 
he reconciled to God^ indicates, al^o, the increase 
of facilities for the attainment of their object. 
Is not our power of moral suasion, as susceptible 
of improvement from exercise, as any of our other 
powers ? Will not the stock in this bank, which 
previous generations have accumulated and trans- 
mitted to us, enable us to enlarge the business of 
doing good ? Wherein do our capabilities fail to 
improve from exercise ? The science of astrono- 
my, beginning in the detached observations which 
oriental shepherds made upon the heavenly bo- 
dies, some four thousand years ago, as they 
watched their flocks at night, and gradually re- 
ceiving the contributions of successive genera- 
tions, has at length risen to its present perfection 
and sublimity. Thus, continual energy and ex- 
ertion in a particular direction, are the certain 
road to improvement in every thing within the 
limit of our faculties. The strength and apti- 
tudes of our individual organs and attributes 
grow by exercise ; while at the same time, the 
materials for our work are continually accumu- 
lating. And hence, through the united influence 



80 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

of both, how should we fail, in the end, of ac« 
quiring new principles of efficiency ? 

Nor is it to be supposed, that the evangelical 
enterprise will form an exception to this general 
rule. As in the erection of a monumental pile, 
each abutment and column and arch, form a more 
elevated base for the next above it, so, the expe- 
rience of one generation of pious men in doing 
good, will constitute a basis on which their suc- 
cessors, other things being equal, will rise still 
higher and higher, till the cloud-capt summit of 
the heavenly structure, shall command the notice 
of angels in their flight and fill the world with 
admiration and praise. Some future generation 
of Christians may arise, who will accomplish more 
for truth and righteousness in the earth, than all 
their uninspired predecessors put together. A 
nation shall be born in a day. Gentiles shall 
come to thy light and kings to the brightness of 
thy rising. For brass I will bring gold, and for 
iron I will bring silver, and for wood I will bring 
brass, and for stones iron ; I will make thine of- 
ficers peace and their exactors righteousness. 

3. Another indication of an increase of moral 
power in the church, is furnished by the effects 
which have followed from the discoveries already 
made in the modes of doing good. While no ap- 
pearances of gold show themselves in the soil of 



OF MORAL POWER. 81 

a country, it will not be an object of search by 
the inhabitants. But let piece after piece of the 
precious metal come to light, and whole neigh- 
borhoods will abandon their occupations, in the 
hope of finding more. 

Just so, what we have already gained to the 
art of well doing, by the improvement of our 
ethics, by adopting more efficacious plans of op- 
eration, by exploding the existing abuses of in- 
temperance and slavery, and by other extant nov- 
elties in impressing upon the mass of mind the 
things of God and eternity, can hardly fail to ex- 
cite the expectation of further developments. 
Who can compute the amount of moral influence 
which has accrued from the Sunday School In- 
stitution ? Unborn generations will rise up to 
bless the memory of those, who introduced this 
mode of operating upon unfolding intellect, to 
bring it to knowledge, to virtue and to God. By 
pre-occupying the vacant soil of forming charac- 
ter ; by establishing Christian consciences in mil- 
lions of bosoms that had otherwise resigned 
themselves to unchecked selfishness and unre- 
sisted sin ; by calling into exercise an untold 
amount of zeal and energy for the instruction of 
the young, and thus turning the hearts of the fa- 
thers to their children and the hearts of children 
to their parents, in mutual efforts to bless and be 
blessed, to give and to receive ; — in all these and 



82 INDICATIOINS OF AN INCREASE 

a thousand other ways, this institution has in- 
calculably increased the moral influence of the 
church. And, as might be expected, it has great- 
ly multiplied the number of conversions in child- 
hood and youth. 

Besides, who can estimate the beneficial results 
of field-preaching, in the time of Whitefield and 
the Wesleys ? Providence seems to have order- 
ed the expulsion of these holy men and their co- 
adjutors, from the places of worship, out of a 
merciful regard to the poor colliers and vast mul- 
titudes like them, of whom it might be truly 
said, no man cared for their souls. Congregated 
by thousands on the open commons, over w^hich 
the mighty voice of the preacher resounded in 
accents of love, they caught the inspirations of 
faith, repentance and immortal hope. And a 
throng which no man can number, harping with 
their harps, will praise God for the adventurous 
charity, which, spurning the limit of consecrated 
buildings and overleaping the restraint of estab- 
lished usage, pursued them to their chosen re- 
sorts of riot. Sabbath-breaking and wickedness. 
If so trifling a change, therefore, as preaching in 
the fields as well as the churches, produced re- 
sults so favorable, w^ho can foresee what may be 
accomplished by some future change in the mode 
of doing good ? 

Nor have improvements in the practical ethics 



OF MORAL POWER. 83 

of the church, been attended by results less aus- 
picious to her efforts of pious persuasion. That 
it is wrong to persecute men for their religious 
opinions, to use alcohol as a beverage, or embark 
in the slave-trade, are principles in morals which 
have but lately dawned upon the human mind ; 
and their control over the convictions even of 
pious men, is yet far from being universal. Per- 
secuting, wine-bibbing and soul-trafficking prac- 
tices have for centuries rested on the whole fam- 
ily of the redeemed, like a malignant enchant- 
ment, to corrupt its reasonings, to paralyze the 
arm of its strength, to render its arguments 
against infidelity pointless and vain, and incalcu- 
lably to diminish its success in persuading sin- 
ners to be reconciled to God. A system of wrong- 
doing in the church, however unwilling she may 
be in tolerating it, cannot fail to mar her beauty, 
eclipse the lustre of her heavenly light and rob 
her of a portion of that efficiency, which she 
might exert for the conquests of Immanuel. 
When all those malignant influences which ages 
have accumulated, therefore, come to be exploded, 
and the Christian family return to the pure ethics 
of the Bible, as contained in the law of love, and 
illustrated in the life of Jesus, there is no con- 
ceiving the augmentation of power, which will 
thence accrue over the moral decisions of man- 
kind. 



84 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

And who can pretend that this work of annihi- 
lating existing evils will not go on ? Is there 
nothing wrong among us, whose removal, like 
that of a clog from the wings of a bird, would 
accelerate the flight of our principles ? Are all 
our cherished practices accordant with the phys- 
ical, intellectual and moral interests of mankind ? 
Are our views of truth and duty formed on the 
perfect model of divine revelation, so as to admit 
of no further corrections ? Does not the gospel 
which we profess to love, contain in itself the 
germs of a moral and religious elevation, more 
exalted than the one occupied by Christians at 
large ? In view of all our past discoveries, there- 
fore, both of old obstructions and of new facili- 
ties to our success as Christians, and of all the 
effects which have attended them, how can we 
suppress the expectation, that this work will go 
on still further, till we have acquired untold ac- 
cumulations of power for the conversion of the 
world ? 

4. The primitive triumphs of Christianity, 
also, suggest the hope of increase in its future 
efficiency. What has been done may be done. 
As Christianity began in miracle, such may be 
the termination of its earthly career. Indeed, 
the conflagration of the world, the resurrection 
of the dead, the final judgment, the coming of 
Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and 



OF MORAL POWER. 85 

great glory, and other magnificent events with 
which this earthly drama is finally to wind up, 
cannot result from the operation of established 
causes. They will constitute an appropriate close 
of a dispensation that began in miracle. 

But, in my view, the moral power of primitive 
Christianity was, to a great extent, independent of 
its supernatural endowments. It was not mira- 
cle, but speaking the truth in love and in demon- 
stration of the Spirit, that gave its first ministers 
such subduing power, over the convictions of 
mankind. In the first age of the church, there 
was a class of Christians, though probably not 
numerous compared with all that even then had 
named the name of Christ, whose devotion was a 
more absolute and a more vigorous principle than 
we meet with now, in a like number compared 
with all who at present profess the faith of the 
gospel. Indeed, it is questionable whether the 
present age can furnish a single example, that 
comes up to all the divine lineaments, (apart even 
from their supernatural gifts,) of that heaven-im- 
pelled phalanx, which led the first charges of 
Christianity upon the powers of darkness. They 
took hold of the truth with a strength of faith, 
that made it assume in their view, the aspect of 
an engrossing reality. Theirs was the martyr- 
spirit, too determined, too invincible, too Godlike 
8 



86 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

and sublime, to be diverted from its purpose, by 
contumely, by confiscation, by imprisonment, by 
tortures, or by death in its most revolting forms. 
They rejoiced in being accounted worthy to suf- 
fer shame for the name of Jesus. 

Fired with such a spirit themselves, therefore, 
and transmitting the same with little abatement 
to their immediate successors, no wonder that 
paganism, false philosophy, and all the corrup- 
tions of belief and practice which antiquity had 
consecrated, should have given way before them. 
No wonder that the soil, wet with their martyr- 
ed blood, should have sent forth a richer growth 
of all that can adorn character or improve the 
human condition. No wonder that in such 
hands, Christianity should have become the 
dominant influence of the Roman world. Theirs 
was the logic of holy action, patient suffering, 
inextinguishable benevolence, determined effort 
and invincible courage, all combining to produce 
such impressions of their deep sincerity and earn- 
estness, as carried a power of conviction, before 
which the most skeptical and obdurate quailed. 
In their presence, even authority trembled, and 
royality was almost persuaded to lay aside its 
glittering insignia, for the sackcloth and ashes of 
penitential sorrow. 

Now, does not the fact that such power was 
once wielded by Christians, inspire the hope of 



OF MORAL POWER. 8"? 

its revival in future ? What energy to chain 
the devil and flash abroad the light of saving 
conviction, may await the advancing career of 
those who are the destined heirs of salvation, 
no uninspired vision can foresee. As they give 
up their conformity to the world and approxi- 
mate the grovvang lustre of the millenial sun, and 
as their resources come to be more entirely con- 
secrated on the altar of the world's conversion, 
they viay return to more than primitive efficien- 
cy, in controlling the convictions of mankind. 

5. Prophetic representations of the future 
triumphs of Christianity on this footstool, encour- 
age the hope of which we are speaking. When 
Vv^e consider the abundant evidence which the 
prophets furnish, of the future existence of such 
facts, as that the whole earth shall be brought 
under Christian influence ; that all its kingdoms 
shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of 
his Christ ; that the nations shall have their hos^ 
tile passions so subdued as to learn war no more, 
and that this mighty work is to be effected, not 
by physical force, but by sanctified moral sua- 
sion ; how can we suppress the expectation, that 
Christians will hereafter find means of urging 
forward their godlike enterprise, at a rate of 
movement at present unknown ? Do our exist- 
ing plans, or the present extent of our moral 
force, give promise of results thus wide-spread 



88 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

and glorious ? I see not how any one, with the 
prophecies in his hand, can suppress the convic- 
tion of a vast augmentation in the future skill, 
enterprise and efficiency of the earthly forces of 
the Lord of hosts. But the facts from this source, 
indicating a future increase of moral power in 
the church, are too copious to admit of recapitu- 
lation, and too obvious to require it. 

6. A further indication of this prospective fact, 
may be found in the extent to lohicJi the conver- 
sion and sanctification of sinners is suspended 
upon our iustrumentality . The apostolic doc- 
trine, that whosoever calleth on the name of the 
Lord shall be saved ; and the inquiries to which 
it gives rise, of how shall they call on him in 
whom they have not believed, and how shall 
they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard, and how shall they hear without a preach- 
er, and how shall they preach except they be 
sent, — all concur, in imposing on us, an agency 
which is indispensible to the evangelical enter- 
prise. But how could this be possible, without 
opening to a choice of expedients, to a field for 
enterprise and to all the conditions of improve- 
ment ? 

Moreover, when we descend to the several 
items of the work assigned us, we see at every 
step, ample space for discovery in the princi- 
ples of efficiency, as well as for increasing the 



OF MORAL POWER. 8& 

aptitudes of individual actors. How complex 
are the labors included in that single word 
" preach I" It consists in availing ourselves of 
all the avenues and vehicles of thought, and es- 
pecially that of oral address, in order to bring 
home to the human mind and conscience, the 
great facts of Divine revelation, as they centre 
in 'and are unfolded by Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion. In the single effort of furnishing ourselves 
with the matter of preaching, there is room for 
all the industry and talent which we or an an- 
gel from heaven could command. It is possible, 
by a due comparison of spiritual things with 
spiritual, to rise still higher and higher in our 
views of the gospel scheme, to acquire ideas and 
impressions of saving truth still more and more 
available and expansive, and to go on adding 
indefinitely to our stock of weapons from the 
spiritual armory, till scarce an enemy would be 
able to withstand our well directed attacks. As 
in nature, every disease is said to have a sove- 
reign specific, provided it were applied in prop- 
er time and manner, so in Divine revelation, may 
be found a remedy for all cases of conscience 
and for all varieties and degrees of guilt, except 
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And it 
is a noble field for pious study and enterprise, 
to acquaint ourselves both with this remedial 



90 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE 

provision itself, and with the most effective 
modes of its application to those who are perish- 
ing in sin. O how fervently should Christians 
pray over their Bibles, that thus they may be 
qualified to act most efficiently as the cure of 
souls ! 

And as to expertness in proclaiming the truth, 
which industry and prayer had brought to light, 
there is an equal field for industry and enter- 
prise. No matter to what extent our knowledge 
enabled us to draw on the armory of heaven, we 
could not be very effective, without skill in 
wielding the Divine panoply. Much may be 
done in adapting ourselves to character and cir- 
cumstances. The training of our affections, 
also, so that they shall respond to all the impres- 
sions of truth, like the cords of a harp to the 
hand that touches them, will afford scope for in- 
definite improvement. It is a high and holy at- 
tainment, to be able to speak the word in dem- 
onstration of the Spirit, to reprove with meek- 
ness considering ourselves lest we also be tempt- 
ed, to warn with tenderness and tears, to feel 
continual sorrow for the obstinate and incorrigi- 
ble, and to be able to appeal to the Searcher of 
hearts, that it is our most ardent desire and 
prayer that sinners may be saved. Thus, to have 
in ourselves all the affections which are suited 



OF MORAL POWER. 91 

to our characters, as the ambassadors of God, and 
successors of patriarchs and prophets, of apostles 
and martyrs, is a condition of success in our 
great enterprise, to which the more closely we 
adhere, the more we shall have the power of do- 
ing in the cause of Christian philanthropy. 

Then the questions as to who shall be sent, 
how sent, lohere sent, and as to all the accompa- 
nying circumstances of the enterprise, open to 
channels of indefinite research. And hence, our 
instrumentality in the work of salvation, is ex- 
erted in a manner to admit of improvement from 
study, experience, and from all the things which 
are relied on for improvement in other depart- 
ments. How, therefore, can we doubt the dis- 
covery of new principles here more than in other 
enterprises in which oar agency is concerned? 
We have already seen, that to regard ourselves 
as under the control of a blind fatality and irre- 
versible decrees, in all that we do for the advance- 
ment of religion in the world, contradicts the 
analogies of general experience, and annihilates 
motive to the labor of Christian benevolence. 

Such are some of the considerations, which 
favor the hope of a future increase in the moral 
power of the church. By keeping them in view, 
and being impelled by them to the earnest exer- 
cise of our faculties in study, labor and prayer 



92 INDICATIONS OF AN INCREASE, ETC. 

for the attainment of the object, the influence 
upon the cause of Zion and the interests of man, 
will be highly auspicious and glorious. that 
God may speed our progress to the desired con- 
summation, that a nation may be born in a day, 
that Gentiles may come to the light of Zion, and 
kings to the brightness of her rising. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE AS TO 
THE MODE OF ACQUIRING GREATER EFFICIENCY 
IN DOING GOOD ; AND ALSO AS TO THE RESULTS 
TO BE EXPECTED FROM ITS EXERCISE. 

We have seen that the end of Christian philan- 
thropy, is to make men happy by making them 
good. They cannot be good, however, except 
from choice ; and consequently no means can be 
employed in the work, but those which are moral 
or persuasive. Moral power is the power of per- 
suasion, being the influence which one man has 
over another, in directing his voluntary actions. 
This, however, in itself considered, could not re- 
store the deranged affections of fallen human na- 
ture. He is a sinner in a condition of punish- 
ment, being allowed a temporary suspension of 
his final doom, to afford an opportunily of avail- 
ing himself of God's provisions of mercy. Still, 
his whole nature has felt the shock of his sin, 
and the retributive elements which God has ren- 
dered inseparable from the accountable faculties, 
have wrought in him disastrously, disorganizing 



94 SETTLEMENT OF THE 

his passions, clouding his reason, corrupting his 
conscience, and adding to his individual cases of 
guilt, the inveteracy of a fixed habit in it. Easy 
as it may be to save a suicide, by snatching the 
poisoned chalice from his lips, before he has tast- 
ed it, hard indeed must it be, after it has gone 
into the stomach and diffused itself through his 
blood. 

Hence, had the pious men existed to engage in 
the work of Christian persuasion, they could not, 
by the mere force of the influence of man over 
man, have restored a single fallen sinner to holi- 
ness and peace. God's penal provisions had 
gone too deep into the soul, to admit of this. 
No .; four thousand years of miraculous dealing 
with the human family, and recorded by infalli- 
ble pens, to make out a complete system of re- 
vealed faith and worship, the peroration of which 
was added in tones of power and lines of blood, 
by the Son of God himself, became necessary to 
furnish materials for the great argument of phi- 
lanthropy, in beseeching sinners to be reconciled 
to God. And even this mighty machinery, with 
its wheel within a wheel, could not move forward 
in the hands of the church, to an efficient prose- 
cution of the great enterprise, till the Spirit of 
God had been poured out, to animate the whole 
and lift it up above all earthly conceptions of 
moral power- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLE. 95 

But when the union finally took place be- 
tween the finished revelation, the influence of 
man with man in the church, and the agency of 
the Holy Spirit, then a new power was created, 
to take its place in the great family of powers, 
and to stand conspicuous above them all, as an 
exhibition of divine mercy, — that unto principali- 
ties and powers might be known, by the church, 
the manifold wisdom of God. Though miracu- 
lous in its origin, it now follows a definite order 
of sequences ; is always present with a due ad- 
justment of its conditions, and when it fails, 
some one or more of those conditions are want- 
ing. To know what those conditions are, there- 
fore, and how to combine them, should be the 
great point at issue in the minds of all God's 
children. 

It remains now to consider the probable means 
through which the weak in Zion are to become 
as David and the house of David as the angel of 
the Lord. We say probable ; for who can anti- 
cipate with precision, the course of future events ? 
How rare is the power of being in advance of 
one's own age ! Millions float with the tide of 
events, where there is one to breast its violence 
or change its direction. Even in the march of 
physical science and the arts, which are far less 
subtle than morals, there is no conjecturing what 
may come to light. It is only to those who fol- 



9& SETTLEMENT OF THE 

low discoveries that they seem easy ; to those 
who went before, they were veiled in impenetra- 
ble darkness. 

" The invention all admire, and each, how he 

To be the inventor missed 5 so easy it seems 

Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought 

Impossible." 

Whether the Fuhons of a future age, will not 
employ the elastic property of air, or the galvanic 
and magnetic fluids, or electric currents, or some 
unknown agent, for the propulsion of machinery^ 
are points yet hid from our view in the darkness 
of the future. Perhaps electricity may be con- 
verted into an agent of locomotion, and, winged 
with lightning, we may outstrip the eagle in his 
flight over space. 

If such uncertainty, therefore, broods over 
man's progress in the control of material nature^ 
how much more impenetrable must be that of his 
future power of acting on the human will. These 
considerations should check our presumptuous ef- 
forts to palm off" upon all coming time, our modes 
of Christian persuasion, should teach us lenience 
to those who follow not with us, and should lead 
us humbly to wait on God for greater efficiency, 
in bringing this world under the dominion of 
truth and holiness. 

Of one principle, however, we may be certain, 
that the increase of moral power in the church 
must be secured, by increased acquaintance with 



GENERAL PRINCIPLE. 97 

those laws^ according to which the efficient spirit- 
ual energy operates. For, it accords with uni- 
versal experience, that a knowledge of the laws 
of a power, is the true and only way of taking ad- 
vantage of it to subserve the ends of our being. 
This is the case with electricity, with magnetism, 
with steam, and with every agent in nature. Our 
acquaintance with their laws, has given exist- 
ence to the needle and all its uses in navigation, 
to electric machines arfd lightning rods, and to 
too many other instruments of human use to ad- 
mit of recapitulation. 

And by parity of reasoning, will not increased 
acquaintance, with the laws according to which 
God operates in the conversion and sanctification 
of sinners, or in producing the benign effects 
connected with the establishment and extension 
of his kingdom in the world, give us increased 
power and facility for the prosecution of our spir- 
itual labors ? And, are not those holy men of 
every generation, who have the deepest insight 
into spiritual things, and whose affections are the 
most perfectly attuned to the heavenly influence, 
the ones to do the most good ? The Lord hon- 
ors those who honor him by entering into his 
views in acting upon men ; while those that des- 
pise him, by preferring their own plans and views 
to his, shall be lightly esteemed. The secret of 
the Lord is with them that fear him. He that is 
9 



98 SETTLEMENT OF THE 

spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is 
judged of no man. 

It is proper that we should here correct a pre- 
vailing error, as to the result which we are to ex- 
pect from a high order of moral power in the 
church. This error arises, from not duly distin- 
guishing between causes operating upon the will, 
and causes operating on a material basis. The 
electric machine, if it produces any thing, pro- 
duces electricity. Not so* however, in the efficien- 
cy of moral instrumentalities : it may manifest 
itself by increasing guilt, as well as by increas- 
ing holiness. And while the labor of Jesus of 
Nazareth wrought holily and beneficently in the 
Galilean fishermen, its effects upon the obstinate 
scribe and priest were redoubled guilt and ven- 
geance. But the guilt and vengeance, in the one 
case, as clearly indicated the potency of the power 
that had been working in the nation, as did the 
holiness and beneficence in the other. 

That the power is a moral one, acting not upon 
a material basis, nor upon an animal or intellec- 
tual sensorium, but upon the free-born will, must 
in all cases render it liable to a like diversity in 
its manifestations. There is no extent of moral 
power, that can necessitate a definite action in the 
human will, — for whatever should necessitate the 
acts of the will, destroys their moral character. 
And we hazard the remark, though this is not 



GENERAL PRINCIPLE. 99 

the place to prove it, that what we here say, will 
be found true even of the strongest motive, for 
whose omnipotence over the determinations of 
the will, Edwards so ably pleads. For, if the 
motive to a wrong were to acquire such a rela- 
tive superiority over all the other motives, as to 
necessitate the agent's choice of that wrong, it 
would cease to be wrong, since it was chosen un- 
der circumstances that rendered it impossible to 
choose the opposite right. Nor can the distinc- 
tion between natural and moral necessity, relieve 
the difficulty ; because a motive that should ne- 
cessitate a definite effect in the will, involves the 
natural impossibility that any other effect should 
arise, just as a cause producing a definite effect 
in the sensorium, involves the impossibility of a 
contrary effect. 

Hence, it is a mistake to suppose, that the 
moral power of the church, or any power that is 
morale should afford the certainty of a definite 
line of conduct in those who feel its influence. 
Were the peculiar influence which God has en- 
trusted to his church, exerted up to its utmost 
possible limit, it would no more ensure holiness 
to all mankind, than the still greater moral power 
of heaven secured the angels that kept not their 
" first estate," from the possibility of falling. The 
effect of a great increase of it in the church, 
would be, on the one hand to accelerate the doom 



100 SETTLEMENT OF THE 

of the incorrigible, and on the other, to complete 
both the number aild the polish of Christ's 
jewels. 

But this is the very state of things that God 
designs to bring on, and in which he would be 
most glorified. It is the state of things which the 
judgment seat will establish and make permanent, 
by separating the righteous from the wicked, giv- 
ing the one to unmixed good, and the other to 
unmixed evil. This was the effect of our Sav- 
iour's labors, throwing out influences upon the 
incorrigible Jews, that hastened their removal out 
of the way of God's people, by a signal stroke of 
Divine vengeance, while they increased both 
the number and holiness of the pious. God eve- 
ry where calls upon his people to come out of the 
world and be separate, that they partake not ei- 
ther of their sins or their plagues. And such 
would be the effect of an increase of moral power 
in the church. While it would tend to a rapid 
multiplication in the number of the pious, it would 
place the obstinately wicked at a still greater and 
greater remove from them, rendering the line of 
demarkation between them, not as now uncertain, 
but obvious to all beholders. 

By taking a different view of this subject, how- 
ever, and esteeming the ability to make every 
body Christians, as necessary to the perfection of 
moral power in the church, we involve ourselves 



GENERAL PRINCIPLE. 101 

in endless difRculty and mistake. We use arts 
in making converts that render them seven fold 
more the children of hell than they were before. 
We are hasty in their admission to the churches, 
as if that would ensure their faithfulness to a 
cause which we have failed to make them love. 
And thus, in various ways, we contrive fictitious 
realizations of a fictitious idea, as to what con- 
stitutes great power of doing good to the souls of 
men. And all this comes from the current phi- 
losophy, that the action of a cause producing ef- 
fects upon the will, is like the action of a cause 
producing effects upon a material basis ; or from 
the notion that there is little or no power over 
the will, where there is not the power of neces- 
sitating it to a definite line of conduct. If a 
druggist finds his weights too light for the sub- 
stance in the opposite scale, he adds to their num- 
ber, with a certainty that enough of them will 
accomplish his object. Not so, however, in pro- 
ducing effects upon the will. When the number 
calculated to turn it in favor of holiness and God, 
are as great as they can be made, instead of pro- 
ducing the desired result, they may greatly in- 
crease its guilt and condemnation. What is most 
eminently calculated to convert and save, may 
become to the agent a savor of death unto death. 
But whether thus or otherwise, the church, in 
effecting this accumulation of inducements to 
9* 



102 SETTLEMENT OF THE, ETC. 

the service of God, evinces her moral power, and 
so is unto God a sioeet savour of Christ, both in 
them that are saved and in them that perish :^to 
the one we are a savour of life unto life ; and to 
the other of death unto death. 



CHAPTER VIL 



TENACITY OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS AN UNPROMIS- 
ING MODE OF ENTERING INTO GOD's PLAN. 
% 

As our power of doing good must be propor- 
tioned to our knowledge of, and conformity to, 
God's plan of converting and saving men, the 
question is, how can these be gained the most 
rapidly and in the highest degree. To this ques- 
tion, we shall devote the remainder of these 
pages. And by way of contrast, we will begin 
by noticing a few things from which Christians 
are apt to expect much, but which will afTord 
them little, if they do not stand as obstacles in 
their way. The efficiency of machinery is im- 
proved by diminishing its friction, as well as by 
adding directly to its power. On this principle, 
scarcely less is to be expected to the evangelizing 
influence, by withdrawing the hearts of God's 
children from unproductive channels of effort, 
than by directing them to those which are right. 
And I see not how any faithful, intelligent 
disciple can fail to see, that in order to enter into 
God's views, we must not take them second hand, 



104 INJURIOUS INFLUENCE 

by setting up the dogmas and standards of men 
as our guides ; but must obtain them directly 
from God himself, by the untrammelled study of 
his holy word, by prayer, by fasting, by holy liv- 
ing, by cherishing and not repressing the Spirit's 
work in our souls, and by the discreet and perse- 
vering use of our powers, in conversing with truth 
in its native sources and primeval elements. The 
amount of darkness and imbecility, which is at 
this moment accruing to the church, from the 
rabid determination of its several divisions, to 
keep up and perpetuate to all coming time, unin- 
spired dead men's philosophies of religion, as 
wrought into their several creeds and platforms, 
is immense, is unspeakable I Oh, what a fitting 
subject for sackcloth and ashes, throughout the 
whole family of the redeemed ! God would have 
his children, not innovators, not heresiarchal sys- 
tem-makers, not lovers of telling and hearing 
new things and of breaking up old landmarks 
merely for the sake of doing it ; but simple, hon- 
est, holy, sincere, diligent, and so untrammelled by 
the thinking of all our uninspired predecessors, 
as to take up and carry out the results of faithful 
investigation in every thing, assured that his 
promise cannot fail, of giving wisdom to those 
who thus ask him. But when he sees one party 
fighting about an uninspired creed, and exscind- 
ing those who are suspected of not coming up to 



OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS. 105 

its measure ; another party shaping all its litera- 
ture to a few dog-mas which have become its fa- 
vorite shibboleth ; and all parties more solicitous 
to maintain the sectarian individualities which 
human weakness and folly have done much to* 
impress upon them, how can He admit them td 
his own counsels, or impart his Spirit to acquaint 
them with all things, yea even the deep things of 
God? Alas, darkness is not more opposed to 
light, than this tenacity of uninspired dogmas is 
to the true secret of acquainting ourselves with 
God's plan of saving souls. 

We will instance the pernicious tendency of 
this tenacity, in the prevailing philosophy of con-* 
version. The first propagators of the gospel, 
appear to have regarded religion, not as a state 
or condition, into which a man is put by decree, 
by purpose, or by some power acting upon him, 
as heat acts upon metal in fusing it ; but as pure- 
ly a voluntary thing. When they went to urge 
a reformation of life upon a man's conscience, 
they took the common sense view of regarding it 
as reasonable and right ; and therefore, that the 
man had every requisite ability to attend to it, so 
soon as they succeeded to make clear to his 
mind, the nature and reason for such a reforma- 
tion. Hence, they plied themselves to the work 
of making them clear. They did not go to tell 
the man that the Gospel claims were indeed rea- 



106 INJURIOUS INFLUENCE 

sonble, but that he could not comply with them, 
however clear they might be to his view, till 
God had wrought a change in the taste or na- 
ture of his soul, by an act of power that should 
set at nought his voluntary agency. No ; their's 
was too much a common sense business, for these 
refinements of a subtle philosophy. 

And thus matters went on for about four 
hundred years, abating the growth of various 
errors on other subjects, till in the fifth century, 
Christians began to philosophize upon the nature 
of this process of reformation. One party, at the 
head of which was Pelagius, held it to be a re- 
formation to which the sinner is in himself and 
apart from all Divine agency every way compe- 
tent ; while the opposite party, headed by Au- 
gustine, taught that man by nature has lost his 
free agency ; that this must be restored to him by 
a direct act of Divine power changing the nature 
of the soul, before he can obey the gospel ; that 
God does this for a part of mankind, thus ensur- 
ing their obedience, not as the result of their free 
choice, for that they had not the power of exer- 
cising, but of his own sovereign will and pleas- 
ure ; that such are saved in pursuance of an 
eternal decree of election, and the rest of the 
human family are damned, because, not being 
elected, God does not effect upon them the re- 
quisite change, and consequently, though the 



OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS. 107 

gospel is preached to them, they cannot submit 
to its claims. Thus, while the scheme of Pela- 
gius obstructs the moral power of the church, 
by depriving it of that element which the Spirit 
supplies, that of Augustine does the same, by 
merging all power for building up holiness on 
earth, in the omnipotence of God. 

Now, this great controversy has swept the 
field of theology for the last fourteen hundred 
years. Not a creed or a dogma has been framed, 
during that long period, throughout the Christian 
world, Protestant and Catholic, which has not 
verged to the one or the other of those belliger- 
ent theories, or which has not received its cast 
and character from the conflict between them. 
On both and all sides, they have their proof texts 
drilled to the service of speaking the sense they 
wish, which, in most cases, is utterly at variance 
from the sense of the inspired men who penned 
them. Through the careful study of the Bible, 
this fact has been gradually developing itself in 
the mind of the writer for the last twenty five 
years, till now that book has become in his view 
entirely a different thing, from what the theories, 
foisted upon him at the outset, had taught him 
to suppose. And his experience is doubtless the 
same with that of hundreds of others. How 
therefore, can the thirty nine articles, or those of 
the Westminister Assembly of divines, or any 



108 INJURIOUS INFLUENCE 

others arising under similar circamstances, and 
tinctured as they are by some modification of the 
Augustinian and Pelagian controversy, be relied 
on as guides to the sentiments of inspired nlen, 
or to the laws of the spiritual kingdom ? Even 
Augustine, whose star has always been in the 
ascendant, giving cast to the dominant theology, 
after he had duly elaborated and modelled his 
scheme of doctrines, had to write a book recant- 
ing the common sense things which he had writ- 
ten on the subject, before his controversy with 
Pelagius commenced. How dissimilar are the 
movements of a mind that follows truth and na- 
ture, from the same mind under the wrenching and 
excoriating influence of an invented system or 
theory. The substitution of theory for nature, 
is like abandoning the sun and resigning one's 
self to an ingnis fatuus, to wander through 
swamps and quagmires " in endless mazes lost." 
The Augustinian dogmas have so far wrought 
themselves into the fabric of the popular think- 
ing upon religion, both among saints and sin- 
ners, as to make it believed, that in every case 
of voluntary obedience to the gospel, a prior in- 
voluntary change had been w^rought by the di- 
rect power of God, which partook of all the most 
material characteristics of a miracle. And the 
practical result is, that it is of no use to make 
the claims of the gospel clear to a sinner's mind, 



OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS. 109 

till God SO changes the nature of his soul, as to 
bring him into a condition of salvation. 

Now, the point upon which we are at issue 
with this view of the subject, is not whether a 
man is saved wholly by grace, but simply as to 
the attitude of the voluntary powers at the mo- 
ment of receiving grace. The prevailing theol- 
ogy teaches, that this grace is exerted upon a 
man at a moment when the whole force of his 
voluntary powers are in direct opposition to it, 
and that the work thus effected upon him, is the 
procuring cause of every desirable change in 
those powers. Whereas, the Bible and common 
sense teach, that the truth in the view of his un- 
derstanding acquaints him with what is right, 
leads him to the choice of it on the ground of its 
rightness, and that it is while his will is strug- 
gling to carry out this decision, that the Spirit 
opens upon him still more fully the odiousness of 
his own sins, shows him the amazing love of 
Christ in dying for him, impresses upon him the 
weight of eternal things, and assures him, in ac- 
cents sweet as angels use, that his sins which are 
many, are all forgiven. The Spirit, by his ful- 
ness of graces and gifts, heals those infirmities of 
his feelings, that had otherwise overpowered 
the strongest decisions of his will to engage in 
the service of God. 

This is the view which the apostle gives of the 
10 



110 INJURIOUS INFLUENCE 

subject, in the following among other passages : 
In whom, that is in Christ, ye trusted after that 
ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of 
your salvation : in whom after ye believed, ye 
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.^ 
Here, you see, the hearing of the word of truth, 
or the development of the claims of the gospel 
in the reason, is the first thing. Then follows 
the act of trusting or believing it, which is no- 
thing less or more than that attitude of the will, 
in which a man convinced of a thing, surrenders 
himself to act accordingly. This act, however, 
is soon followed by a sense of the impossibility 
of meeting the claims of the gospel, on account 
of the strictness and purity of those claims, and 
of his own vileness, habits in sin and consequent 
derangement of affection. A struggle ensues 
between the choice of a known right and the de- 
sire of its opposite wrong, producing what the 
apostle speaks of as a conflict between flesh and 
Spirit. In that state of mind, the gospel is trusted 
as worthy of all acceptation, and the man would 
obey it, were it not for the law in his members 
warring against the law of his mind and leading 
him to cry out, O wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 
Now, it is while the voluntary powers are in 

* Eph. 1 : 13. 



OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS. Ill 

this attitude of submission to the gospel, that the 
sealing of the Spirit takes place, subduing the 
feelings and bringing them into harmony with 
God, so that the law is fulfilled in us who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Hence, it 
is " after^'' we trusted or believed the gospel of 
our salvation, that we were sealed with the Holy 
Spirit of promise. 

That the Spirit should do his work before the 
truth of the gospel has brought the man to sur- 
render himself to it, in an act of trust or belief, 
not only contradicts the Bible, but the experience 
of every truly converted person. The Bible ac- 
cuses us of grieving, quenching and resisting the 
Holy Ghost, which would be an impossibility, if 
the Spirit did his work in spite of our active op- 
position. What resistance can a man offer, when 
his will is already disarmed of its hostility? 
Can he resist without willing it ? Or if he did 
resist, of what avail would it be, since according 
to this supposition, the Spirit does his work in 
defiance of every supposable barrier which the 
man may interpose by his voluntary powers ? 

And besides, if faith is impossible to a sinner, 
till the Spirit has wrought a change in his invol- 
untary affections, why should his unbelief be 
treated as so serious a crime ? What, a man 
damned for not believing the gospel, when the 
thing was impossible to him ! He might be 



112 INJURIOUS INFLUENCE 

damned for acting against the light of nature, or 
the dictates of natural conscience, but not for the 
lack of an exercise, the power to which the Spirit 
had not furnished him. 

Now, it is this prevailing conviction among 
both the preachers and hearers of the gospel, 
that an involuntary change of some sort, is neces- 
sary to any successful endeavor after its bless- 
ings, that does much to create the impression of 
uncertainty and capriciousness, in the connexions 
of means and ends in the kingdom of grace. If 
a sinner is converted, they take it for granted that 
this peculiar element has been supplied in the 
case ; but if not, then it has been withheld. Both 
sinners and Christians seem to think they must 
wait in inaction, till the Spirit does his work. 
Or, if it is not absolute inaction, it is tantamount 
to it, because it is action without a hope of suc- 
cess from the inherent energy of the means which 
they employ. Both the foolish and wise virgins 
sleep together, till the accident of a sudden death, 
or some other awakening event, arouses them 
from their torpor, when, taking it for granted 
that the Spirit has come and begun his work 
among the people, they set about doing theirs, 
and, as a consequence, reap an occasional harvest 
of good fruits. 

But, both the piety which the church acquires 
under such circumstances, and the conversions 



OF UNINSPIRED DOGMAS. 113 

which take place among the impenitent, if they 
are sincere, are defective in the qualities of dura- 
bility and productiveness. The Spirit, according 
to their idea, is at length withdrawn, when Chris- 
tians relapse into inglorious ease, the converts 
many of them fall away, and those who have 
enlightened consciences among the impenitent, 
are waiting for another revival to assure them of 
success in seeking the Lord. Nor can these 
evils be remedied, till the public mind is imbued 
with a thorough conviction, that the saving and 
sanctifying power is always present with a due 
adjustment of its means ; that there is no more 
capriciousness here than in the laws of nature ; 
and till Christians feel an assurance that the 
Spirit loill help those who make up their minds 
to obey the truth. 



10* 



CHAPTEE VIIL 



AN INCREASE OF MORAL POWER IN THE CHURCH 
CAN BE EXPECTED, NEITHER FROM BEING GREAT- 
LY DEVOTED TO EXISTING ECCLESIASTICAL ES- 
TABLISHMENTS, NOR FROM THE CREATION OF 
NEW ONES. 

Our improvements begin, for the most part, in 
the two coincident impressions, that our present 
modes of thought are defective, and that higher 
attainments are within our reach. Hence, what- 
ever diminishes the strength of either of these 
impressions in the church, will obstruct the in- 
crease of its power of doing good. 

And that our sectarian attachments do this, to 
an enormous extent, cannot fail to have been ob- 
served, by those who are at all acquainted with 
the Christian world. They beget a self-satisfac- 
tion, which, as an individual or a social feeling, 
is alike adverse to improvement ; while at the 
same time, they produce over-estimates of every 
thing in the organization which has called them 
forth, and under-estimates of every thing beyond 
its limits. And hence, they are a palsy upon 



SECTARIANISM NOT MORAL POWER. 115 

the energies of the church, giving her a limping, 
ambling and unavailable movement. A humili- 
ating sense of present defects, united to glowing 
conceptions of the degree of virtue, knowledge 
and holiness which are attainable, and an eager 
desire to make them our own, is an indispensable 
condition of advancement. The meek, will he 
guide in judgment : the meek will he teach his 
way. 

When Christians in general shall have an 
abasing sense of their present attainments ; 
when they shall go through a regular process of 
conviction of present wrong and of conversion to 
what is better, like an awakened sinner ; yea, 
when they shall cry out for knowledge and lift 
up their voice for understanding ; when they shall 
seek it as silver and search for it as for hid treas- 
ures ; then they shall understand the fear of the 
Lord and the knowledge of God. Blessed are 
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness ; 
for they shall be filled. If any man lack wis- 
dom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men 
liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be 
given him. 

But, alas, how difficult is it to beget in the 
Christian family at large, this lowliness of feel- 
ing in regard to what they now are, and this 
earnest expectation in reference to what they 
mie^-ht be. which are indispensable to an increase 



116 SECTARIANISM NOT 

of moral power ! Each denomination assumes 
that its own constitution embodies the germs of 
all religious truth; that the plans of operation 
sanctioned by its founders contain in themselves 
all attainable efficiency ; and hence, that nothing 
must be tolerated, Avhich cannot by some con- 
struction natural or forced, be compressed within 
its ancient limits. Its spirit, therefore, is essen- 
tially conceited, assuming, prescriptive and intol- 
erant, being as adverse to improvement, as pride 
and self-conceit are to individual advancement. 
It is the spirit of Rome, of the Moslem, of des- 
potism, of hell. Rancorous, lying, slanderous 
and infernal, when arguments fail, it wields the 
more convenient weapons of appeal to vulgar 
prejudice, of adroit insinuations or open charges 
of heresy, acting on the malignant policy of 
crushing by some means, fair or foul, all who 
cannot be brought within the prescribed dimen- 
sions. Thus, each division of the Christian fam- 
ily, is, to a great extent, wielded by those, who 
will neither enter the gates of knowledge them- 
selves, nor suffer them that would. 

And it is especially unfortunate, that those 
peculiarities of the party, which are derived 
from sources independent of the Bible, are 
more tenaciously adhered to, than those which 
it draws, in common with the other sects, from 
that sacred source. I need only refer the reader 



MORAL POWER. 117 

to the various phases which piety assumes in the 
Quaker, the Episcopalian, the Methodist, the 
Baptist, and the Presbyterian, to convince him 
that each of these sects depends for its separate 
existence, on elements and influences, which 
are not the necessary result of any thing taught 
in the word of God. Indeed, the proposition 
must be self-evident, that if they had nothing but 
what is identical with inspired teaching, their 
separate existence would cease and they would 
be merged in one. 

The perpetuation of no single party, now com- 
peting for the suffrages of the Christian world, 
considered in all the features of its distinctive 
existence, is necessary to the integrity and sta- 
bility of that kingdom which is not of this world. 
Though it may embody the ordinances and es- 
sential doctrines of Christianity, yet, these are 
compounded with other materials, with a pre- 
vailing ignorance of the deep things of God, 
with an extremely low order of practical excel- 
lence, and with various plans of action which 
have little or no efficiency, all entering in and 
giving character to the organization as a whole. 
And, as the advocates of each are determined to 
uphold all its distinctive features and to main- 
tain its separate existence, their efforts are di- 
rected mainly to the propping up of those which 
are derived from sources foreign to the Bible, 



118 SECTARIANISM NOT 

these being the weaker points of the structure, 
and of course more needing this kind of labor 
to protect them. Thus, a very large, if not the 
larger portion of talent and effort in the Chris- 
tian family, is worse than thrown away upon 
peculiarities that mar, rather than beautify that 
spiritual temple which was designed to be built 
up only of spiritual materials. Alas for poot 
human nature, always more solicitous for straws 
than for gold, for shadows than for substance ! 

True philosophy and true religion, therefore, 
would dictate that all the divisions of the Chris- 
tian world should take the place of learners ^ 
sitting at the feet of Jesus, not only to acquire 
the virtues and affections of the spiritual charac- 
ter, but also a more perfect organization, and 
greater power of acting upon the mass of mind 
to bring it to God, thus proving all things and 
holding fast that which is good. How much 
better would this be, than taking ground against 
a thing as certainly wrong, because it falls not 
within the limits of our sectarian platform ! We 
never can go on unto perfection, till we take it 
for granted that some of the things behind are 
to be forgotten, and some of the things before to 
be secured and incorporated with our characters 
and plans of acting. This is as true of our pres- 
ent organizations as such, as of the individuals of 
which they are composed. 







MORAL POWER. 119 

It seems to be the policy of our heavenly Fa- 
ther, to withdraw his blessing from every church 
establishment, just as soon as it becomes the nu- 
cleus of Avorldly passions and carnal interests, 
or when his children begin to doat upon it, as 
the sole organ of Divine power to the souls of 
men. Even the serpent of brass which Moses 
made at the command of God, though at one 
time the means of health and life to many a dy- 
ing Israelite, was broken to pieces by pious Hez- 
ekiah, when the people were guilty of pay- 
ing to it undue homage. And those institutions 
which were delivered in the midst of thunder- 
ing, lightning and tempest, though the sole or- 
gans of God's special communications to m.en for 
fifteen hundred years, came at length to be the 
objects of the people's devotion, for what they 
were in themselves, and not as a means of con 
nexion Avith the spirituality and the holiness of 
God. Hence, their abrogation became necessa- 
ry, not merely to the introduction of a purer dis- 
pensation, but to the rekindling of piety in a na- 
tion, who had extinguished it, through the idola- 
try of a shadowy ritual. 

And, notwithstanding the care of our Saviour, 
to guard his kingdom against kindred evils, by 
leaving with it the simplest possible organization, 
yet, in the space of a very few centuries, after 
he paid the price of our ransom, all the features 



120 SECTARIANISM NOT 

of Romanism, that most formidable of apostacies, 
were distinctly developed, opposing and exalting" 
itself above all that is called God, or that is wor- 
shipped. The unostentatious rite of baptism had 
accumulated to itself the pomp and circumstance 
of a worldly institution ; while the consecrated 
cup and the broken loaf, became the objects of 
an idolatry more gross and abhorrent, than that 
of the gods whom they had supplanted. And 
as to the shepherd offices that Christ had assign- 
ed for the nourishment of his flock, which were 
to be filled by none but those who were willing 
to be servants of all, they were elevated to the 
rank of princely thrones, and invested with in- 
signia equally gorgeous and magnificent. 

How much has been lost to the moral influ- 
ence of spiritual religion, by identifying its inter- 
ests with this worldly organization ! The piety 
of such men as Thomas a Kempis, Fenelon 
and Pascal, beneficial as are its inherent tenden- 
cies, has by this means gone to sanction the 
worst practices that ever disgraced human na- 
ture. It is the main pillar in that temple of 
abominations in which the man of sin has built 
his altar and his throne. And since the Refor- 
mation, the same waste of Christian talent and 
zeal has been experienced, by expending them 
upon organizations which have become carnal 
and worldly. The peculiarities of a holy man's 



MORAL POWER. 121 

plan of working and of his philosophy of reli- 
gion, may be easily seized and wielded, by those 
who have not a particle of his holiness. Where- 
as nothing but his holiness, on the Spirit of God 
with him, could impart to him the least religious 
efficiency. It was the piety of Vf hitefield and 
not his Calvinistic theory, that gave him such 
power over the consciences of men. It was the 
Spirit of God dwelling in John Wesley, that 
made him so efficient in winning a bride for his 
Master, and not his Arminian schem.e. These 
divine qualities of character could make them 
both useful, notwithstanding their differences of 
opinion. 

These facts are not sufficiently considered by 
those who engage in labors of religious reform. 
Being stirred up by the Spirit of God to do 
something to correct existing evils, they have set 
about collecting around them those who feel as 
they do and are willing to identify themselves 
with the enterprise. Becoming at length a con- 
siderable band, and persecuted, perhaps, and 
driven from the existing churches, they find it 
necessary to adopt a visible bond of union of 
their ov/n, to consolidate their strength and make 
them more successful in their work. And the 
character of this bond of union, will, of course, 
partake more or less of the specific objects of 
the reform, and of the peculiarities of genius in 
11 



122 SECTARIANISM NOT 

the leader or leaders in it. Presbyterianism as 
shaped by Calvin ; Lutheranism as formed by 
Luther and his coadjutors ; the Kirk as modelled 
by Knox and others ; the English establish- 
ment in the characteristics imparted to by Cran- 
mer and its other founders ; and Methodism as 
wrought into shape by the genius of Wesley ; all 
received the impress, both of the peculiarities of 
these distinguished men, and of the circumstances 
in v\^hich they were placed. A different mind 
from that of Calvin, might have constructed a 
different bond of union ; and his mind, acting 
under other circumstances, would doubtless have 
arrived at different results. The same may be 
said of all the others. 

But when the visible bond of union is once 
formed, w^hether in the shape of a creed or no 
creed — any thing that gives visibility to the 
party — then of course, it must be vindicated from 
the pulpit and the press, must be accommodated 
with meeting houses in place of those from which 
it has been ejected, must be provided with an 
order of ministers, a literature of its own, its own 
modes of ensuring a transmission to coming gen- 
erations, and with all the paraphernalia of a dis- 
tinct organization. Talents ennoble it; years 
render it venerable ; wealth and place make it 
inviting to the carnal and worldly ; piety endears 
it to the hearts of the good ; and thus it continues 



MORAL POWER. 123 

the receptacle of much that is evil and some that 
is good, long after the exciting scenes and hardy 
spirits among whom it arose, have retired from 
the stage of life. Such is the growth of those 
diversified organizations, which are at this mo- 
ment arrogating to themselves, it is to be feared, 
more of the labor of pious men, than the advance 
of holiness and the salvation of a perishing 
world. 

Facts in the history of reform seem to be con- 
clusive in this, that little advantage to the moral 
power of the church, can accrue from increasing 
the number of our ecclesiastical organizations. 
It may, indeed, be difficult to prevent it, in the 
present state of human nature. The bare fact of 
having in those that now exist, men of great force 
of intellect or peculiarity of genius, may endan- 
ger this result. Ambition may stir up this class 
of minds to head a party ; or they may be driven 
to it against their will, by the prescriptive policy 
of those who act against them. The determina- 
tion of those who live to vindicate present organ- 
izations, not to suffer them to be convicted of 
wrong, or to force their dogmas, unmitigated and 
unmoUified, upon all who chance to fall under 
their supervision, serves greatly to inflame the 
tendency to schism. And in most cases, they are 
more to blame, than those who would bring about 
a different order of things. 



124 SECTARIANISM NOT 

These causes, together with others, are likely 
to make our own age as remarkable for schism, 
as any of its predecessors. Nor would this be a 
cause of regret, provided our nurselings gave 
promise of grovdng into more just proportions, 
than those which have gone before, or of adding 
essentially to the power of Christianity over the 
moral decisions of mankind. But it is cause of 
deep regret, — God knows how much so to the wri- 
ter of these pages, — that they give little promise 
of such a result. As to the Disciples and the Lat- 
ter-day-saints, who have their seat in the valley 
of the Mississippi, we are sorry to say, neither of 
them began in any remarkable outpouring of the 
Spirit, such as originated Methodism ; nor in any 
such conflict of great principles as aroused the 
genius of Luther ; but the one is the offspring of 
litigation on minor points, while the other is the 
result of a fraud and chicanery, almost without 
a parallel in the history of party. And though 
we concede to the Oberlin friends in Northern 
Ohio, to the Unionists in central New York and 
to kindred parties, the merit of a sincere desire 
to improve the piety and power of the church, 
yet, the dogmas or principles for which they are 
contending, are just as susceptible of being seized 
by a selfish heart, and turned to the advantage of 
building up a worldly institution, as those in 
which any other party took its rise. The pros- 



MORAL POWER. 125 

pect is, that some of these parties will exist, long 
after the piety of their founders shall have been 
utterly extinguished from their altars. 

We must not be understood to intimate, that 
the creation of a new party is never admissible ; 
for this would impeach the conduct of our Sav- 
iour and his apostles, as also that of the reform- 
ers, who have wrought so glorious a work for 
mankind. But it is questionable whether it can 
be justified in the present state of Protestant 
Christianity ; for it is far from being so deplor- 
able, as that of the Jewish and Gentile nations 
in the time of Christ, or of the Romish church in 
the time of Luther. The leaders of existing or- 
ganizations ought to have sense and piety enough 
to consider, that they were framed in a darker 
period than our own, and by men who had hard- 
ly yet shaken off the slumbers of a thousand 
year's night in the deep superstitions of Roman- 
ism ; that they took their peculiar form and char- 
acteristics from circumstances that have ceased to 
exist ; that in some cases their piety has deterio- 
rated since their formation, and that therefore, 
they need to pass under the hand of an enlight- 
ened Christian reform. Why then repel such a 
process, and drive those who attempt it into 
schism ? 

Besides, brethren whose light is in advance of 

Jheir age, should do their utmost to scatter it 
11# 



126 SECTARIANISN NOT MORAL POWER. 

abroad, in a way to make it as diffusive as possi- 
ble. Would it not be infinitely better to diffuse 
it among all God's children, than to leave it as 
the exclusive property of a sect ? Do they not 
all need it ? Is not a tendency to schism among 
the most serious obstructions to the moral power 
of the church ? Shall we then indulge it ? Let 
us rather seek for peace and things wherewith 
one may edify another. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ON AN ELEMENTARY AND CRITICAL VIEW OF THE 
WORK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED, IN ITS CONSUMMA- 
*riON AND IN THE SEVERAL STAGES OF ITS 
PROGRESS, AS A MEANS OF INCREASING OUR 
POWER FOR ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. 

Without clear ideas of what we have to do, 
how can we acquire efhciency in doing it ? We 
have spoken of our work in the general terms, of 
making men good, converting them to holiness, 
building up holiness in the world ; as a regenera- 
tion, a sanctification and final salvation. But as 
Lord Bacon observes, " syllogisms consist of 
propositions, propositions of words, words are 
signs of notions ; if therefore our notions are 
confused and do not answer to things all our 
reasonings are baseless." The thing itself in its 
specific elements, which the Bible makes essen- 
tial to salvation, or the analytical properties of 
that change without which our adorable Saviour 
would fail to see the travail of his soul, must be 
understood, both as a security against fallacious 
reasoning and as a guide to our proceeding in the 



128 



THE GREAT END 



several stages of its progress. We arej apt, in 
speaking of salvation, to leap over a vas|t chasm 
of intermediate facts, and fix our thoughts exclu- 
sively on the great result of a soul in i heaven, 
surrounded by its beatific visions, and foi ever ex- 
empted from sin and all its consequence s. But 
this general conception of the subject, glowing 
and magnificent though it be, v^ill do as little to- 
wards enabling us to realize it, in our o^vn case, 
or that of the multitudes around us who are per- 
ishing for lack of vision, as that of perfect health 
among all his patients, in the imagination of the 
physician, will do towards conducting them 
through the several stages of the proce^is to that 
desirable result. 

Let us fix our minds upon that perfect holiness 
which is to constitute the final consumirnation of 
this glorious process, and then we shiJl be the 
better prepared to appreciate its several stages, as 
well as the treatment best calculated to promote 
them. Holiness is that condition of the moral 
faculties^ in lohich they are in harmony among- 
themselves and with general truth. A:n account- 
able agent is not one of a single faculty, but of a 
constitution of faculties, having various relations; 
among themselves and to other objee^ts and be- 
ings. One class of them, such as the personal, 
have respect to his own happiness ; the social 
impel him to the converse of other beings and to. 



TO BE KEPT IN VIEW. ' 129 

admit their happiness to consideration in connex- 
ion ^vith his own ; the intellectual are the founda- 
tion of his knowledge ; and the spiritual, includ- 
ing* the moral sense, lead him up to God and im- 
mort^ility. Like the several members, organs and 
fluids in the body, each of these faculties has its 
specific place and use, which it must keep and 
subsearve, or a chaos of the soul will ensue and a 
misery- be engendered, as much m.ore keen and 
lastincr than any thing the body is capable of en- 
duringj as it is more noble, more powerful and 
more indestructible in its nature. 

God, however, has so fenced around the 
faculties of the soul, that no being in the uni- 
verse can inflict injury upon them, till the agent, 
by his own recreant violation of known law, has 
involved them in ruin. Who shall harm you, if 
ye be the followers of that which is good ? We 
ourselve^s must open the door, before Pandora 
can discharge upon us all her plagues. Hence, 
the cha(3s and confusion of the moral faculties 
always implies guilt, which the Bible contem- 
plates under the idea of pollution, while their 
due balemce and right exercise, involves holiness, 
v/hich i;s innocence, virtue, purity. 

There are innumerable ways, in which an 
abuse o:f our voluntary agency, may introduce 
anarchj' into the soul. It may be done by indulg- 
ing our self-love at the expense of our social af- 



130 THE GREAT END 

fections, and thus infringing upon the riglits of 
others. Did not that mother who ktely, ia one 
of our cities, starved lier chiUh'on to death, to 
gratify her kive of strong drink, incur the deep- 
est guih, and hetra\^ a state of anarchy ami mis- 
rule in her atiections, totally disqualifying h*cn' for 
peace and bliss ? The one, also, who lives to 
gratify himself or his friends, at the expease of 
his known duties to (rod, throws his soivi into 
horrid confusion, and nuist feel the blii^ht by a 
necessity as inevitable, as that of death to the 
body by pouring out the heart's blood. This was 
Adam's sin, prefering the gratiiication of his ap- 
petite and the pleasure of his wife, to the known 
will of God. Ami the majesty and glory of law 
are evinced, not morolv in the dive result upon 
himself, but in the infamy and wo ensuing to 
his whole race for time and eternity, and in the 
shock which outward nattire received, when 

"Earth lVl( tho wouuil, and XaJuro iVom hor soat 
Si^hinir tliroujiU all her works gave signs of wo 
That all \vas lost." 

We are apt to think and speak of the moral 
laws of God, as something abstract from the na- 
ture of man ; w^hereas, they are a part of him- 
self, and the penalty of their violation is ensured 
by causes physical to his soul, so that God could 
not make it otherwise short of a miracle, any 
more than he could, without a miracle, prevent 



TO BK IvJvl'T IN VIEW. 131 

bliiulnivss to a man who sliould pluck out both 
his eyes. Nor is tlicre in the nature of the 
soul any redeeming* provision, more than there 
is, in the constitution of a man thus made blind, 
any provision for restorinn- to him his sight. 
Consequently, apart from some extraneons and 
extraordinary remedial arrangement, the anarchy 
of the soul, when it is once produced, must re- 
main coeval with its existence. God has not 
only provided, that all his accountable subjects 
shall have the care of keeping themselves in his 
love, or of subordinating every feeling and affec- 
tion to his law as addressed to their reason and 
conscience ; but he enforces a due exercise of the 
oreat trust reposed in them, by sanctions power- 
ful as His throne and tremendous as a miserable 
eternity. Thus, by S"uspendiug their destiny upon 
their own free-will, lie has put within their power, 
on the one hand, virtue exalted, and bliss su- 
preme ; and, on the other, he has exposed them 
to guilt unmitigated and hopeless, in 

'' a lake of burn i 115 lire, 
With tempest tossed 'perpetually, and still 
The waves of llery (1» rkiioss 'gainst the rocks 
Of dark damnation break and music make 
Of mt lanelioly sorL"" 

Moreover, othex beings and things are adapted 
U) awaken in ns given affections, and to exert 
over our conduct a given influence. God, whose 
adorable attribvites entitle him to the supreme 



132 THE GREAT END 

place in our thoughts ; our fellow beings, money, 
pleasure, and every object within the field of our 
mental vision, are in themselves suited to influ- 
ence us, in some way and to some extent. And 
holiness is that condition of our moral faculties, 
which prepares us to educe from these beings 
and objects, just the impression and influence, 
which are suited to their nature and value in the 
scale of being. But unholiness is that condition 
of these faculties, which educes from them the 
wrong impression, leading us to estimate every 
thing on a false scale. As God's claims are su- 
preme, the holy love him with all their heart and 
all their strength, pouring forth to Him the melody 
of exalted and undying praise ; while the unholy 
prefer themselves, their friends, their pleasures, 
and their momentary gratification, to God; and 
when aroused to a full contemplation of his ador- 
able perfections, as they will be in eternity, his 
name will grate harsh thunder upon their dis- 
cordant souls. \ 

The one may be likened to a healthy palate, 
a cultivated taste, and an ear exquisitely tuned 
to vocal harm^ony, so that the nicest shades of 
difference in things addressed to each, are in- 
stantly detected. But the other is like a diseased 
palate, an uncultivated taste, and an obtuse and 
discordant ear, educing from every thing address- 
ed to it, the wrong impression, or no impression 



TO BE KEPT IN VIEW. 133 

at all. To the palate of the healthy, every thing 
is natural ; but to the sick nothing is so. In a 
man of cultivated taste, the lovely scenes spread 
out under the deep blue of an Italian sky, excite 
most exquisite emotions. But if a savage, 

" Whose soul proud science never taught to stray- 
Far as the solar walk or milky way," 

should view the same scene, it would either be 
with no emotion, or none corresponding to the 
object before him. And as the ear of Paginini 
was nicely tuned to harmony, detecting the mi- 
nutest shades of difference or discordance, so the 
soul of the holy is nicely tuned to the harmonies 
of all truth, and shrinks from moral discord 
with instinctive horror, while the unholy esteem 
discord harmony/, and harmony discord. 

This view of a holy and unholy condition of 
the moral faculties, will enable us the better to 
appreciate the condition of sinners, as they are, 
and as the church aims at making them, by 
means of the influence of which she is the organ 
to their souls. This work includes both the com- 
mencement of a sinner's return, and his progress 
to final glorification. 

Its commencement. That which is decisive of 
this work in a sinner, is not a series of reforma- 
tions in leaving off this, that and the other sin, 
til] all are given up ; but a single act of his will 
in resigning himself wholly to God, as he is re- 
12 



134 



THE GREAT END 



vealed in the gospel. Abraham's faith in resign- 
ing himself wholly to God, in leaving his native 
country, in circumcising his household, and in 
offering up his son, when God required these 
things at his hand, was reckoned to him as right- 
eousness. That is, God has provided, under his 
constitution of grace, and by the atonement of 
his Son, — that central fact in the history of re- 
demption — that such as surrender themselves by 
their own voluntary act to do his will, shall be 
accounted the same as those who have always 
preserved the holy condition, or due balance, of 
their powers and affections. 

Indeed, there is reason why this single act of 
faith, or surrender to God's will as made known 
in the person of his Son, should be made deci- 
sive of salvation ; because it is the primary ele- 
ment in an absolutely holy condition of the 
moral powers. Holiness, in a creature, is a sur- 
render of all to God, so that his will shall be 
supreme in all things, as we have before shown. 
What so much distinguishes the inhabitants of 
heaven, as this, leading them to cry out in har- 
monious acclaim, at every new discovery of the 
Divine pleasure. Alleluia : for the Lord God om- 
nipotent reigneth. Their holiness consists in 
this subordination to the will or law of God, as 
addressed to their reason and conscience. And 
this the sinner renders at his conversion, though 



TO BE KEPT IN VIEW. 135 

there is this marked difference in the two cases, 
that while their affections are in absolute har- 
mony with the law of God, his are in a state of 
anarchy and rebellion and tend continually to 
break up this surrender of himself to God and 
to seduce him again to sin. Hence, as saith the 
apostle, without extraordinary help from the ful- 
ness of the Holy Spirit, " he cannot do the 
things he would." The law is fulfilled in us 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Here comes in the wonderful provision of moral 
power in the gospel, imparting to the sinner an 
ability, which would otherwise be impossible to 
him, not only of making the surrender of him- 
self to God's will, but of maintaining that sur- 
render, notwithstanding the relics of his former 
derangement in sin. 

But these polluting relics cannot annihilate 
the efficacy of faith to justify him. Many as 
the features of Abraham's character may have 
been, unlike those of a perfectly holy being in 
heaven, still they could not bring him into con- 
demnation, so long as he maintained his sur- 
render to God's will. This act by itself, though 
not as yet connected with the complete balance 
of his moral powers, secured his justification. It 
was by this act, also, that the three thousand on 
the day of pentecost were justified. This act in 
Saul of Tarsus, as evinced by his submissive 



136 THE GREAT END 

prayer, Lord what wilt thou have me to do ? pro- 
cured the instant remission of a train of bloody 
deeds, that had been pursued up to that hour. 
The Philippian Jailor, the next moment after 
having self-murder in his heart, so surrendered 
himself to God, as to rejoice in the pardon of 
all his sins. 

Now, we see the wisdom and goodness of 
God, in thus centering every thing in a single 
act. It secures his church in dealing wdth sin- 
ners, and sinners in attending to the teaching of 
the church, against the danger of confusion and 
mistakes. It enables the church to say specifi- 
cally. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world, as Moses said to the 
dying Israelites, Look to the brazen serpent and 
live. She is not encumbered with the fearful 
task of saying, up to what extent the sinner 
must carry his reformations, in order to obtain 
pardon ; nor is the awakened soul exposed to the 
horrid apprehension, lest he has not rendered the 
prescribed measure. No ; he is forced to throw 
away all his reformations, as alike vile and use- 
less, as a basis for pardon and salvation, and saj 
in the sweet couplet of Watts, 

" Here Lord I give myself away, 
'Tis all that I can do." 

Indeed, no other act is suited to the sinner's 



TO BE KEPT IN VIEW. 137 

circumstances. His sin consisted in seeking his 
own gratification at the expense of his duty, or 
in making self, instead of God's glory, the ulti- 
mate object of pursuit. When God, therefore, 
reveals himself to him in the gospel, as a God 
of infinite love, making the pardon of his sin 
possible through the death of his Son, the sin- 
ner is brought to the alternative of saying at 
once, whether he will accept of the provision 
and return to his duty, or whether he will go on 
in his sins. He is not called on to say, whether 
he will have his faculties instantly placed in the 
state they would have been in if he had never 
sinned, for that is impossible. The guilty infu- 
sion is in his blood ; it has deranged all his feel- 
ings ; it must remain still as his thorn in the 
flesh, the messenger of satan to buffet him ; but 
he is encouraged under it all, by the sweet voice 
of Jesus, saying. My grace shall be sufficient for 
thee. All that God has provided to do in conver- 
sion, is to take again the throne of the sinner's 
heart, so that it shall no longer be he that lives, 
but Christ that shall live in him. By thus 
choosing Christ as his prophet to teach him ; 
Christ as his priest to atone for him ; and Christ 
as his king to exercise absolute dominion over 
him, he returns to that primary element of a 
holy condition, in which God's place in the soul 
12* 



138 THE GREAT END, ETC- 

is supreme. When so much as this is gained, it 
gives assurance of that progressive sanctification, 
which will finally eradicate all the infusions of 
sin, and present the soul faultless before the di- 
vine throne with exceeding joy. 



CHAPTEE X. 



THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. NECESSITY OF 

CONCENTRATING- OUR APPLICATIONS OF TRUTH 
TO THE SINGLE POINT OF PRODUCING FAITH 
AND ITS CONCOMITANT GRACES. 

Since a voluntai\7 surrender of himself, on the 
part of the sinner, to God's will as it is levealed 
in the gospel, is the thing short of which the 
moral power of the church would fail of its ob- 
ject, how dangerous is it to suffer ourselves to be 
diverted from it ! How simple, how plain is the 
object before us ! How ought ministers to frame 
all their sermons to the ungodly, with reference 
to gaining it ! What an awful spectacle is that, of 
a minister standing in the pulpit to expatiate on 
topics in general, throwing in a beautiful passage 
here, and another there, with little reference to 
the object in which he must succeed, or an 
endless hell will be the portion of his hearers ! 

If a special ambassador to a foreign court, 
charged with business involving the peace and 
security of all nations, should spend his time in 



140 CONCENTRATION OF 

rambling over the fields of general science and 
literature ; should devote himself to painting 
and poetry ; or live there to display his fine per- 
son and equipage ; and, in the midst of it all, 
should forget the errand on which he had been 
sent, and should return without doing it ; he 
would not present to his country and the world 
so shocking a specimen of recreancy to duty, as 
that minister who allows any thing in God's uni- 
verse, to divert him from his work of producing 
faith among his impenitent hearers. Or, if he 
even magnifies a subsidiary point into the place 
of the principal one, and gives greater promi- 
nence to something else, than the surrender of 
the soul to God in a new and everlasting cove- 
nant, he may expect upon himself the curse of 
an unfaithful watchman, who saw the enemy 
coming, but gave not the alarm. 

How shocking is the thought, that some 
should be so gross, as to make an external rite, 
imposed on helpless infancy or adult age, the 
thing which is decisive of salvation ! Millions 
are now resting their hopes of heaven on their 
baptismal regeneration, hopes which are to be 
dashed in everlasting disappointment. O ye, 
who encourage them in these delusive hopes, 
how will ye dare to meet their wailings at the 
judgment seat ? 

Others go a little further, and connect with 



MORAL POWER. 141 

baptism a specidative faith in the gospel, and 
outward conformity to its moral code. Others 
lay great stress upon being able to convince sin- 
ners that they ought to repent and believe. 
Sermon after sermon is preached with this ob- 
ject in view, when the great majority of the 
hearers, are perfectly aware of their duty. They 
know they ought to forsake their evil ways. 
Even devils believe and tremble. There is not 
a drunkard in the land who is not, in his sober 
moments, convinced that his habits are ruinous, 
and that he ought to break them off. But he 
will not, till something shall be presented to his 
mind, that shall make it seem feasible for him 
to resist his appetite and regain his character. 
And happy indeed is it for the cause of humani- 
ty, that we have learned to supply this desidera- 
tum in that reform. Now, this is the very 
thing that the church must present to the mind 
of a sinner, before she can secure upon him a 
still greater, more benign and more lasting re- 
formation. 

It is not enough that we induce sinners to re- 
solve that they will believe. Can resolves to do a 
thing suffice, when the gospel requires the thing 
itself? " Hell is paved with good resolutions." 
We cannot resolve or will our sins away from 
us. It is a law of God's moral government, as 
we have already seen, designed no doubt to pro- 



142 CONCENTRATION OF 

tect its great interests, that when a sin is com- 
mitted, it should throw all the elements of the 
soul into malignant play. The understanding is 
darkened, the conscience corrupted, the desires 
inflamed, and the moral leprosy strikes its roots 
into the deep foundations of the soul. And the 
sinner could as easily have willed himself into 
being originally, as he can will himself into a 
state of holiness. There is no basis in him for 
such a will, no fulcrum for the Archimedean 
lever, because every imagination of the thoughts 
of his heart is only evil continually. 

Hence, the cure is neither in a visible rite, nor 
in a speculative faith, nor in a conviction of what 
we ought to be, nor in an effort of the will to 
dislodge sin from the soul ; but in such a surren- 
der of the mind to that image of goodness and 
truth, which is held up in the preaching of Christ 
and him crucified, as transforms us into its like- 
ness, from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord. As in the healing of our bodily dis- 
eases, the virtue is in the medicine, and not in 
the act of taking it ; so in the cure of our souls, 
the virtue is in the truth believed and in the Holy 
Spirit accompanying that truth, and not in the 
act of believing it. This act, however, is indis- 
pensable in the case, and Christ as the good phy- 
sician, can cure only those who will submit to 
his prescriptions. 



MORAL POWER. 143 

The first thing, therefore, which the church 
has to do, in bringing sinners to the decisive 
point, is that of developing the truth to their 
reason. Hence, the command to teach all na- 
tions, to 'preach the gospel to every creature, and 
to speak among the people all the words of this 
life. And who can conceive of provision more 
complete than that with which we are furnished, 
for this part of our work? Whence in all God^s 
universe, can such an array of facts be found, or 
such channels of convincing reasoning, as those 
which are spread out between Genesis and Eev- 
elation ? It is God's great argument with man- 
kind, the result of four thousand years' com- 
posing, which, 

" when set before 
The mind with perfect evidence," 

and in demonstration of the Holy Spirit, " com- 
pels belief," Who can pretend that we have made 
the most of these materials ! 

Next, reflection on the truth delivered, must be 
ensured. If it just come into the mind and float 
out again, it can impart no more nourishment to 
the spiritual nature, than food to the body, when 
the stomach ejects it as soon as it is received. 
The moment the doctrines of the cross come 
within the sphere of the sinner's thinking, he is 
thrown into a condition of action in regard to 
them, ejecting or cherishing them. Hence, all to 



144 CONCENTRATION OF 

whom our Lord was personally known, as the 
cities where he preached and the individuals with 
whom he conversed, were made the more virtu- 
ous, or the more vicious by his presence. If they 
received and cherished his truth with avidity, 
then it wrought in them its divine results ; but if 
they refused it, they incurred a double vengeance. 
And it was more tolerable for Sodom and Go- 
morrah, than for such cities and individuals. 

The w^ork of ensuring reflection upon the 
truth, therefore, opens to a vast field for enterprise 
and contrivance in the church. In the mode of 
presenting and illustrating it, in the circumstances 
under which it is presented, and in various ways, 
much may be done by prayerful and zealous as- 
siduity, to chain attention to it, and thus to se- 
cure for it the dominion of the mind. The rea- 
son why truth is, in some cases, kept so long be- 
fore the mind, without being incorporated into its 
constitution, is, that little or nothing is done to 
arouse attention to it. Let a revival of religion, 
a sudden death, a new cast of genius in the 
preacher, or a new train of circumstances of 
some sort, conspire to ensure reflection, and 
hundreds will be converted, whom the ordinary 
routine of events failed to reach. A traveller 
might pass over hundreds of miles, without tak- 
ing a permanent impression of scarce an object 
with which he should meet. But let him be 



MORAL POWER. 145 

\ 

waylaid by robbers ; let a bridge fall under him 
and precipitate him into the current below, to 
the imminent hazard of his life, or let any 
other incident occur, and he will be able to give 
a more minute account of the mile in which it 
happened, than of all the rest of his journey. 

How far Christians may hereafter find means 
of arresting attention to the truth, on the part of 
those to whom it is presented, it is difficult to 
foresee. That all such means, wisely contrived 
and judiciously managed, would conduce to an 
increase of power in the church over the convic- 
tion and conduct of mankind, it is easier to see 
and acknowledge, than to point out the particu- 
lar mode of procedure. God graciously pro- 
vides for this in his providence, by the various 
casts of genius which he introduces into the 
ministry. We fail to realize from this source all 
we might, however, on account of the tendencies 
to schism, which our ignorance and narrow views 
beget, whenever such minds arise among us. 
While our policy is niggardly and selfish, God is 
enlarged and noble in his, dividing to every man 
gifts severally as he will. In this way, he pro- 
vides to diversify the modes of application, and 
to command for his truth the attention necessary 
to its saving results. 

Another thing necessary in contributing to the 

production of faith, is that of securing for the 
13 



146 CONCENTRATION OF 

gospel the approval of sinners. Nor is this a 
difficult task, because every thing in it is suited 
to elicit from them this feeling. Does not the 
action of that daughter, who subsisted her father 
in prison at her own breast, excite the admiration 
and approval, even of those who are themselves 
most deficient in filial duty ? So, the worst of 
men will find every thing in Christ to admire, if 
they can only be brought duly to reflect upon it. 
Though degraded themselves, they ''feel how 
awful goodness is." Hence, in securing so much 
as this, the church has ample materials. 

And when we have succeeded to lodge with 
sinners the inward consciousness that our cause 
is right and theirs is wrong, it will beget dissat- 
isfaction with what they are themselves, and may 
lead them to surrender all to Christ. If they 
come not to this result, it will be because they re- 
sist their own convictions, taking ground against 
what they know and feel to be right, and thus 
bringing upon themselves one of the alternatives 
of moral power, that of greater guilt and con- 
demnation. The Spirit has reproved them of 
sin, righteousness and judgment; but they have 
resisted like the stubborn Jews, and judged them- 
selves unworthy of eternal life. 

It is only by being conducted through this pro- 
cess, however, of having the gospel developed to 
the reason, of having the mind given up to seri- 



MORAL POWER. 147 

ous reflection upon its claims, and of having the 
approval elicited towards it, as something impor- 
tant, that the sinner can come to the decisive 
point of surrendering himself wholly to it, to be 
moulded after its model of excellence, and to be 
governed by it in ail things. In contributing, 
therefore, to the foregoing stages of this process, 
Christians must never rest in them as an end, but 
keep undeviatingly in view, its decisive stage of 
actual resting upon Christ for salvation. 

We call this final stage, a resting upon Christ, 
or a surrender of the mind to him, a state of the 
moral faculties which may be illustrated by com- 
mon things. A man hears the cry of fire in a 
city, and at first thinks little of it. The idea of 
an existing fire, is barely developed in his mind. 
He next discovers that it is in the direction of his 
own house, and begins to reflect more intensely 
upon the matter. And finally, he learns positive- 
ly that it is his own house, and that his children 
are in it ; and then he throws all the energies of 
his being upon the fact, and exerts every nerve 
in a manner suited to the crisis of his circum- 
stances. 

This is faith. We first hear the truth of the 
gospel; then we attend to what we have heard; 
then we approve it as true and important ; and 
finally we commit ourselves to be and do all that 
the circumstances in the case demand. We sur- 



148 CONCENTRATION OF 

render ourselves to be governed by Christ's laws ; 
we receive his teaching as from God ; we put 
ourselves under his protection; yea, we rest 
our prospects of happiness for time and eternity, 
upon his promise. It is to those who thus sur- 
render themselves to him, and, by a continued 
effort of their voluntary powers, hold themselves 
to the issues of their new mode of life, that 
he gives liberty and authority to become the 
sons of God, even to them that believe on his 
name. They partake of the Divine nature, as 
children of the nature of their parents ; the Holy 
Spirit makes their bodies his earthly temple and 
his throne, and both the Father and Son love 
them and make their abode with them. 

This form of expression, " He gave power to 
become the sons of God to them that believed on- 
his name," is not accidental, but suited to express 
the fact as it is ; that such a state of voluntary 
surrender to the truth of the gospel, as faith in- 
volves, is prior to that state of the affections which 
makes the yoke of Christ easy and his burden 
light. In other words, the change which the 
convictions of truth in the mind effect in the vol- 
untariness, is the antecedent, of which the change 
in the affections is the consequent. A surrender 
to the truth on the bare conviction of its right- 
ness, in itself considered, cannot give one the 
feeling of a child in God's family ; and hence it 



MORAL POWER. 149 

does not involve the " power" of becoming a son 
of God. That power comes from receiving the 
Spirit of adoption, the fruit of which is love, joy, 
peace and all filial affections. But God has gra- 
ciously established a certainty, that this Spirit 
shall be given to those who make this voluntary 
surrender. Their faith shall " work by love," or 
shall be followed by love, not in virtue of its in- 
herent efficacy, but in virtue of the Spirit of 
power given in consequence of its exercise. 
Hence, the church may go to her work of lodg- 
ing truth in the mind of sinners, till she " com- 
pels^^ the voluntary surrender of themselves, con- 
fident that when so much is gained, every saving 
result will follow. 

Now, these several stages of knowledge, re- 
flection, approval and faith, sustain to each other 
the relation of antecedent and consequent, so that 
when the one is gained, the other will follow, un- 
less the natural course of things is interrupted by 
a resistance of the Holy Spirit. The truths 
known are such, that the agent would offer vio- 
lence to his own nature, not to think them over 
and dwell upon them, as much as he would not 
to think over the death of a wife or parent, of 
which he had just heard, or a pecuniary loss 
threatening to involve him in bankruptcy, with 
which he had just been made acquainted. 
And thinking them over, cannot but enlist his-ap- 



150 CONCENTRATION OF 

proval of them, as of great moment. Can the 
highest specimen of love in the universe, as 
evinced in dying for one's enemies, fail to com- 
mand admiration ? Have not the morals of the 
gospel extorted reluctant praise even from its 
worst enemies ? Not to approve, therefore, would 
be an act of violence to one's own nature. And 
then, to barely approve of the gospel in the ab- 
stract, to say that it is good and excellent, with- 
out making it a personal matter, is an instance of 
most extraordinary absurdity and folly. It is 
like a dying man professing his belief in the effi- 
cacy of a medicine to cure him, and yet refusing 
to take it. What ! a man contemplate and ap- 
prove the purest specimen of life and conduct, 
without attempting to conform to it ! Know and 
approve as true, the fact that an endless hell must 
be his portion except he repent, and yet live im- 
penitent ! Acknowledge Christ as an Almighty 
Saviour, and yet not trust him ! 

The church, therefore, has only to consider 
and avail herself of the advantages, which the 
nature of man holds out for the prosecution of 
her work, to assert and maintain her preeminence, 
over the moral elements of this lower world. 
There is potency in those truths with whose de- 
velopment to the mind of man she is entrusted, 
and they cannot fail to command attention, elicit 
approval and to ensure faith. She has only to 



MORAL POWER. 151 

urge them upon the intellectual and spiritual na- 
ture of man, by all the means that God has plac- 
ed within her reach, confident that the appropri- 
ate results of her moral power will develope 
themselves on every hand. Multitudes will be 
converted ; while those who are not, will both re- 
sist the Holy Spirit and do violence to their own 
nature, and thus will be driven to a still wider 
and wider extreme in wickedness ; and the line 
of demarkation between them and good men will 
become so obvious, that the prediction will be 
fulfilled, Then shall ye return, and discern be- 
tween the righteous and the wicked, between him 
that serveth God and him that serveth him not. 

As to promoting the graces concomitant to 
faith, or the perfection of the character in holi- 
ness, we must only indulge ourselves with one or 
two brief remarks. 

Much will be gained here, by keeping in view, 
that holiness is not a given feeling excited on a 
given occasion, as those suppose who refer us to 
the time of their sanctification ; but, as before ex- 
plained, it is the harmony of all our powers and 
affections, both among themselves and with out- 
ward objects and relations. A man may be filled 
with love and with God, on a particular occasion, 
and every Christian ought to expect this. But 
to have our expenditure of money, our bodily ex- 
ercises and gratifications, our recreations and 



152 CONCENTRATION OF 

pastimes, our intellectual pursuits, and every- 
thing pertaining to our being, in all its diversified 
relations and conditions ; to have all these brought 
into just the right place in our thoughts and at- 
tentions, so that our characters shall neither be 
defective nor excessive in any thing, must be the 
work of time and experience, as v^ell as of large 
measures of the indwelling Spirit. For the want 
of this mellowing and correcting influence of 
time and experience, the apostle would not have 
" a novice" in religion, even though filled with 
the Spirit, introduced into the ofiice of a bishop. 

There seems to be, therefore, some confusion 
in the thinking of those, who consider the ful- 
ness of the Spirit, the same as perfect holiness. 
Where a man enjoys in himself the conscious- 
ness of intending God's will in all things, or of 
never knowingly, to give way to pride, or lust, or 
selfishness, there can, I grant, be no corroding 
sense of guilt. He shall never walk in dark- 
ness. There is no condemnation to those who 
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

Now, professors of religion must aspire to live 
in this manner, or give up their pretensions to 
piety. To resign ourselves to fleshly living, un- 
der the notion that we cannot walk after the 
Spirit, betrays a want of that faith, without 
which there can be no piety. Oh, that we were 
all meek, gentle, condescending, charitable, and 



MORAL POWER, 153 

holy, as befitting those who have partaken of 
the Divine nature. Finally, brethren, be per- 
fect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live 
in peace : and the God of love and peace shall 
be with vou. 



CHAPTER XL 



ON ACQUAINTING OURSELVES WITH THE ADJUST- 
MENTS OF TRUTH WITH THE INSTINCTIVE TEN- 
DENCIES OF man's nature, as a means of 

INCREASING THE MORAL POWER OF THE CHURCH. 

As the gospel system was constructed by the 
same hand that formed the nature of man, it 
follows that the two are adjusted to each other. 
Not only so, it is natural to suppose, that this 
adjustment should be with man himself a mat- 
ter of keener sensibility at some points than it is 
at others. The bed, the room, the attendants, 
and every thing about a sick man, may be exact- 
ly suited to his wants ; but nothing seems to him 
so acceptable, as the remedy adapted to cure his 
disease. The gravitating power, the atmos- 
pheric gases, and every thing that touches the 
bodies of men, may be suited to their organiza- 
tion ; but at no point do they feel the impression, 
as at the eye, the ear and through the other 
senses. So, the moral nature of man has its 
assailable points, and the gospel its truths adapt- 
ed to touch those points, and to leave upon them 



ADAPTATION OF TRUTH, ETC. 155 

impressions that vibrate on all the chords of 
feeling and penetrate to the deepest recesses of 
the soul. 

I take leave, therefore, to suggest, whether 
the moral influence of the church would not be 
greatly increased, by searching out these points 
themselves and the truths adapted to assail them, 
and urging the contact between the two to the 
utmost possible extent. It is as if you wished to 
influence the conduct of the sick man, in the 
case before supposed, by threatening to withhold 
from him some of his personal comforts. In 
that case, which would do most for your object ? 
telling him that he must lose his bed ? his room ? 
his attendants ? no, but that if he does not com- 
ply, he will deprive himself of the only remedy 
that can save him from death. This, made 
real to him, would move him to a compliance, 
if any thing could do it. The besieging army 
expends not its blows upon the whole line of the 
fortress ; but selects its most vulnerable points, 
and brings its heaviest artillery to bear upon 
them with concentrated force. Thus, in assail- 
ing the soul of fallen man, we must find out 
those points which are most susceptible to im- 
pressions, and array against them the whole 
force of truth's divine artillery, till they give way 
to penitential sorrow, or to a malignity, approxi- 
mating the sin against the Holy Ghost. 



156 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

I fear that in all our theological reasonings 
upon fallen human nature, we have run our 
notions of man's depravity, not to an extreme, 
for that is impossible ; but into the absurdity of 
making it physical, rather than moral, and of 
supposing that there are no chords in him that 
can vibrate to the touch of gospel truth, till 
grace has put them in tune. We entertain no- 
tions of a death in sin and a resurrection to 
spiritual life, which, if analyzed, would destroy 
the obligation of believing the gospel. And it is 
well known, that some have gone so far, as to 
deny the duty of saving faith to men by nature. 
Yea, these extreme doctrines of Calvinism have 
been so pervading, within the last fifty years, as 
to require the whole force of Andrew Fuller's 
intellect, to explode them and to bring Christians 
within the pale of reason and common sense. 
Their influence is not so far destroyed, however, 
as to admit of our realizing even yet, the full 
power of the gospel over the moral nature of 
man. You cannot get from the chords of his 
sensibility right vibrations, it is true, till they 
are attuned by grace ; but then, you can get vi- 
brations that Avill grate like harsh thunder to the 
lowest depths of his soul. And these horrible 
sensations must be awakened, and he must be 
slain by the law, before he can be made alive by 
Christ. 



TO man's moral nature. 157 

Considerable reflection and inquiry on the sub- 
ject, give me confidence to suggest the doubt, 
whether the theories which have been broached 
in reference to the conscience of man, are adapt- 
ed to explain the phenomena of that faculty. 
My mind has labored under these impressions 
for years. What has more to do with the history 
.of this world, than the workings of conscience, 
or the religious elements of the human charac- 
ter ? What more than the moral sense ? Does 
the soul of man know a keener pain, than the 
lacerations of a guilty conscience ? It is the 
Medusean head, shaking pestilence from her hor- 
rid hair. It seems to me, therefore, that to 
make conscience nothing more than the under- 
standing or intellect acting on moral subjects, 
comes short of the real facts in the case. We 
trample on our reason and judgment continually, 
submitting to customs and practices which we 
are free to pronounce foolish in the extreme, 
and yet it gives us little or no pain. Why, 
therefore, this horror of the judgment we form 
of right and wrong ? Acute pain is rarely if 
ever experienced, except where violence is offer- 
ed to our instinctive affections. The mother 
feels it over her dying child, and the miser over 
his consuming treasure ; because, instead of the 
reason, the maternal, or the hoarding instinct, in 
such cases, receives the shock. If the reason of 
14 



158 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

the mother, in estimating the amount subtracted 
from her happiness by her child's death ; or that 
of the miser in calculating the extent of curtail- 
ment which his means of personal gratification 
are likely to suffer from his loss, were the only 
principle of his nature concerned in the event, 
trifling indeed must be the pang in either case. 
Apart from the instinctive affections, such events 
would hardly be deemed a calamity. 

And Dr. Wayland's theory of a " separate 
quality," an " ultimate moral sense," in which 
he was preceded by Bishop Butler, it seems to 
me, fails of duly accounting for the retributive 
elements of that part in the constitution of a 
moral agent, which is usually denoted by the 
conscience. " There is a superior principle of 
reflection or conscience in every man," says 
bishop Butler, " which distinguishes between the 
internal principles of his heart, as well as his 
external actions ; which passes judgment upon 
himself and them ; pronounces determinately 
some actions to be in themselves just, right, 
good ; others to be in themselves evil, wrong, 
unjust : which, without being consulted, without 
being advised with, magisterially exerts itself, 
and approves or condemns him, the doer of them, 
accordingly ; and which, if not forcibly stopped, 
naturally and always of course goes on to antici- 



TO man's moral nature. 159 

pate a higher and more effectual sentence, which 
shall hereafter record and affirm its own.'"^ 

With all deference to more competent reason- 
ers, I submit whether this part, in the constitu- 
tion of a moral agent, does not embrace, not a 
simple ultimate moral sense merely, but three 
separate qualities, all concurring to the same re- 
sult, which I shall call an instinct of the Divine 
existence, an instinct of immortality, and an 
instinct of right and. ivrong. The sense which 
I attach to the term instinct, may be explained 
by the love of offspring, which is independent of 
reason, being merely the gushing forth of the 
feelings at that point. The little girl betrays 
her maternal tendencies in the care of her doll, 
long before her reason is informed on the subject 
of that delicate relation. These tendencies, in- 
stead of being generated by her reason, direct 
and control the development of that faculty. So, 
it seems to me, the religious elements of our 
character, instead of belonging to the reason, 
give form and direction to that faculty. And 
should it be said that an instinct, such as the ma- 
ternal, for instance, depends, not upon any thing 
in the soul itself, but solely upon the bodily or- 
ganization, I ask, how do we know ? It is cer- 
tain that the soul has in itself a foundation for 

* Butler's Sermons, Cambridge Ed. p. 53. 



160 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

various classes of faculties. Are not those of 
the intellect, of the sensibility, and of the will, 
each distinct from the others ? Are not the so- 
cial sentiments distinct from the personal ? And 
will not these several classes of faculties remain 
with the soul in its disembodied state, showing 
that they are independent of the bodily organi- 
zation ? If so many instinctive tendencies be- 
long to it, therefore, why may there not be oth- 
ers ? What I shall call the spiritual instincts^ it 
seems to me, just as obviously constitute a 
distinct class of faculties in the soul, as those of 
its intellect, its volitions, its personal or its social 
sentiments, 

1. Its instinct of the Divine existence. What- 
ever may be said of the origin of our ideas of 
God, I see not how any can doubt the exis- 
tence in our nature of a tendency, independently 
of the dictates of reason, to religious worship and 
adoration. The natural history of our race, 
simply as an animal species, as clearly indicates 
this, as that of the lion and the bear does a ten- 
dency to prey upon other animals. In the ab- 
sence of suitable lights to direct this instinct, it 
finds scope upon the most monstrous and absurd 
objects leading to the worship of stocks and 
stones, wind, tempest and the heavenly lumina- 
ries, and even reptiles, fourfooted beasts and 
creeping things. In this respect it is like the 



TO man's moral nature. 161 

maternal instinct, which, in the absence of chil- 
dren, can find a pet to fondle and indulge, even 
among meaner creatures. And the history of 
France proves, that, however infidelity may 
change the character of our gods, it cannot blot 
out our tendency to worship. That is entrench- 
ed too deep in our nature to be unsettled by the 
veering dictates of a capricious intellect. 

Innumerable evidences of these facts present 
themselves on every hand. They are furnished 
in the astrology of the ancients, in their various 
modes of prognosticating coming events, and 
in the witchcrafts, soothsayings, incantations and 
the innumerable forms of a profound and mys- 
terious superstition, which show themselves in 
all parts of the globe, but most in those least en- 
lightened by the gospel. Aside from an instinct 
to the deep and the awful in religion, Mahomet 
could have contrived no arts to whet the feelings 
of his countrymen to that pitch of malignant 
and indomitable fanaticism, which overran Asia 
and the best portions of Europe with its victori- 
ous legions. From the fetishes and amulets 
worn by the sable tenants of Africa's interior 
wilds, and the savage theology that hears its gods 
howl in the wind and bellow in the storm, up to 
the elaborate philosophy of Plato and Socra'tes, 
we recognize kindred streams from the same 

•deep fountain in man's soul. And these senti- 
14# 



162 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

ments every where stand associated with the 
working of the conscience, as an integral part of 
its conception of duty and moral obligation. 
They are the executive elements of that faculty, 
from which comes its preeminence over the other 
faculties. The bare, cold perception of right 
and wrong, apart from an elementary conscious- 
ness of Divine existence and power, could not 
invest the moral sense with its kingly preroga- 
tives. 

2. Instinct of hnmortality. The general 
belief among mankind in existence after death, 
is far in advance of the natural evidence of that 
doctrine. Every one will be convinced of this, 
who compares the confidence of its truth in such 
minds as Socrates, Plato, Seneca and Cicero, 
with the evidences which they adduced in its 
support. Their confidence was unbounded, 
while their evidences came far short of demon- 
stration. Indeed, there is no demonstration of 
immortality, aside from Joseph's new tomb. 
Christ brought " life and immortality to light 
through the gospel." 

And yet, no deficiency of proof, has been suf- 
ficient to explode from the human heart the fond 
hope of immortality. His instinctive impulsions 
induce this belief on the slightest evidence, or 
with no evidence at all. Nevertheless, those im- 
pulsions are neither reason nor inspiration ; but 



163 

like the eye, which, though adapted to receive 
impressions of light, cannot originate it ; they 
simply fit us to catch the radiance of eternity, so 
soon as it pierces the veil of our inherent dark- 
ness. And they even stir up within us a rest- 
less longing for immortality, as the infant appe- 
tite longs for the aliment with which it has not 
yet been regaled, producing, in the absence of 
authentic intelligence from a higher world, those 
innumerable forms of superstition and idolatry, 
which, without affording effective alleviation, 
illustrate our indomitable tendencies, and render 
our darkness only the more visible. 

If these impulsions are not instinctive, de-. 
pending upon the elements and not the accidents 
of our character, where should philosophy have 
found its stimulus to its unbounded efforts to- 
wards settling the doctrine of a future existence ; 
or superstition its magic in converting our wealth 
into temples, altars, and sacrifices, and our de- 
sires into prayers, deprecating the anger of in- 
visible power ? Or how should the shades which 
a future retribution casts before, have found means 
of doing so much towards wielding the destinies 
of mankind? To account for the working of 
human nature in these several points of view, (a 
vast field, supplying to history its principal facts,) 
it must be conceded, that the basis of our reli- 
gious and immortal tendencies, is not superin- 



164 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

duced by education, but exists among the origi- 
nal and indestructible elements of our constitu- 
tion. 

Indeed, as the preservation of our species 
could not be entrusted to mere reason, but re- 
quired the superadded strength of the sexual and 
pai:ental instincts, — so, it seems to me, that virtue 
and moral obligation required the enforcement of 
those profound feelings that lead up to immortal- 
ity. The retributive provisions of God's govern- 
ment over this world would be null and void 
without them. Suppose a race were to exist 
with all the constituent faculties of an accounta- 
ble nature, with the exception of the one of 
which we are speaking ; but that they had noth- 
ing in their nature to assure them of the 'perma- 
nency of their susceptibility to happiness as the 
reward of virtue, and to pain, as the punish- 
ment of vice, of what avail to them would be the 
penal sanctions of law ? All the promptings of 
their constitution would lead them to say, let us 
eat and drink, for to-morrow we die ; let us enjoy 
the present, since we have nothing to anticipate 
in the future. Hence, God has entrenched the 
confidence of immortality where the uncertain 
conclusions of the intellect cannot eflfect its utter 
annihilation. It is too material an element of 
law and moral obligation, to be entrusted solely 
to the reason. 



TO man's moral nature. 165 

3. Instinct of right and wrong. This is 
what Dr. Wayland calls " a distinct impulse to 
do that which we conceive to be right, and to 
leave undone that which we conceive to be 
wrong. This impulse we express by the words 
ought, and ought not. Thus, we say, it is right 
to tell the truth ; and I ought to tell it. It is 
wrong to tell a lie ; and I ought not to tell it.'"^ 

This is all well, so far as it goes. But does it 
account for the amazing phenomena of con- 
science, as the Doctor has developed them in his 
succeeding quotations from the poets ; its ago- 
nizing struggles with passion ; its tormenting 
suspicions when the criminal deed is done ; its 
horrid forebodings ; and its piercing stings 
making life more dreadful than death, as in the 
case of Judas ? No ; these facts bespeak the 
gushing forth of other rills from the spiritual de- 
partment in the nature of man, to swell the tide 
of emotion arising from the sense of right and 
wrong, to interpose their powerful barriers against 
the commission of sin, and thus to assert the 
majesty of offended law. 

The " impulse to do that which we conceive 
to be right, and to leave undone that which we 
conceive to be wrong," is sustained by associate 
impulses leading up to God and to immortality, 

* Moral Science, first Ed. p. 39. 



166 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH 

and thus opening upon the soul the most pro- 
found, awful and tremendous sensations of which 
it is capable. Little as this fact may have been 
noticed by reasoners on the subject, it is one of 
the greatest practical notoriety. A passage from 
a pagan may be taken as a sample of many like 
it in all languages : " That person who is con- 
scious to himself of having neglected his oaths, 
in my opinion can never be happy ; for whoever 
becomes the object of divine wrath, I know no 
swiftness can save him, no darkness hide him, no 
strong place defend him ; since, in all places, all 
are subject to the power of the gods, and every 
where they are equally lords of all.'^"^ And even 
Butler indistinctly recognizes the same fact, in 
the last member of the sentence already quoted, 
where he speaks of the conscience " naturally 
and always of course going on to anticipate a 
higher and more effective sentence, which shall 
hereafter affirm its own." This, however, he 
calls, not a component element, but merely a 
"part of the office of conscience." Whereas, 
it seems to me, that this instinct of the Divine 
existence and this instinct of immortality, are 
elementary to conscience itself and essential to 
its effectual working on any subject. And the 
sense of the wrong of an oath, apprehension of 

* Zenoplion translated, p. 209. 



TO man's moral nature. 167 

the Divine wrath, and the consciousness of being 
unable, ever or any where, to escape the destined 
punishment, of which Zenophon speaks, come 
not merely from the Avorking of the reason in 
connexion with the naked sense of right and 
wrong, but from those deep and mysterious in- 
stincts. Indeed, we have innumerable examples, 
in which the guilty person retains the sense of 
his wrong unimpaired, when, however, he feels 
no remorse. This shows that the retributive ele- 
ments of conscience are distinct from the bare 
sense of right and wrong. The absence of re- 
morse, in all such cases, is owing to a paralysis, 
from some cause, of the instincts leading up to 
God and to the retributions of eternity. Hence, 
it seems to me, that the part of our natures to 
which the term conscience is applied, is not a 
separate or simple element, but is complex, being 
made up of several principles united. Its phe- 
nomena arise from_ those faculties or affections 
which belong to the spiritual department of our 
mental constitution. 

And should it be objected to this, that the con- 
science has no power apart from the reason act- 
ing in view of moral truth, I answer, so has the 
maternal instinct, so has the will, and so have 
self-love and the social affections no power 
apart from the reason. That the spiritual facul- 
ties can only be developed in connexion with the 



168 ADAPTATION OF TRUTH, ETC. 

intellectual, no more proves their identity, than 
it is proved that a man's hand is the same with 
his heart, by the fact of its deriving from that or- 
gan its life and its power. No part of the moral 
constitution would be complete by itself. The 
intellect is as dependent on the sensibility, as the 
sensibility is on the intellect ; and both would be 
alike nugatory and vain, but for the will direct- 
ing and controlling their exercise. If the neces- 
sity of the reason to the development of the con- 
science, therefore, proves their identity, all the 
faculties may, by the same rule, be merged in 
one. It is by means of truth presented to the 
reason, that our taste for painting, poetry, sculp- 
ture and music is brought out and cultivated. 
But does this prove that a man can be a good 
painter, poet, sculptor and musician, by simple 
force of intellect ? Neither can simple force of 
intellect make him devout, even though it be di- 
rected to the study of moral and religious truth. 



CHAPTEE XII. 



THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED — ON THE ADAPTA- 
TION OF THE BIBLE, BOTH IN MATTER AND 
MANNER, TO THE SPIRITUAL INSTINCTS OF MAN's 
NATURE, AND THE POWER WHICH WOULD AC- 
CRUE TO THE CHURCH BY FOLLOWING ITS EX- 
AMPLE. 

If we turn from the nature of man to the 
word of God, we find it suited to the view given 
in the previous chapter. It relies more upon 
holding up images to kindle our spiritual in- 
stincts, in achieving its results, than upon elabo- 
rate discussions to convince the reason. By a 
critical view of the matter of the revelation, it 
will be seen to arrange itself under three general 
heads, which we may entitle the doctrine of God, 
of Immortality, and of Laia. 

That the development of the Divine being and 
attributes is a leading feature of the Bible, is too 
clear to require showing. Its pages open with 
this subject, holding God up to our view, as the 
creator and possessor of heaven and earth, in 
opposition to the local divinities which were ob- 
15 



170 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

jects of worship among the different nations. 
He proclaimed himself as the I am that I am to 
Moses ; displayed himself both to Egypt, and to 
Israel, as having absolute control over the ele- 
ments of nature ; declared himself the living, in 
opposition to the dead gods of the nations ; and 
thus he went on unfolding his character and at- 
tributes, step by step, till all the elements of the 
scripture doctrine of God, from Genesis to Reve- 
lation, were duly lodged with the human mind 
and recorded in human language. Man had lost 
the true idea of God, had merged his tendencies 
to worship in household and national gods, in 
the forces of nature and in the heavenly lumin- 
aries ; and he had even changed the glory of 
God into an image made like to corruptible man, 
and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping 
things. Hence, a long course of training was 
necessary, to disengage his mind from material- 
ism, and elevate it to the spirituality and holi- 
ness of the divine nature. It was to accommo- 
date the earthliness of his conceptions, that a 
ceremonial and symbolical worship was first in- 
stituted ; it being designed to continue only so 
long, as should be necessary to furnish his lan- 
guage with terms, and his mind with ideas, for a 
more elevated theology, that in the end, those 
who worshipped the Father, might worship him 
in spirit, and in truth. x\.nd how much effort it 



TO man's moral nature. 171 

cost, to draw off the hearts, even of the chosen 
people, from making sensible and idolatrous 
things the objects of their worship, and to confine 
them to the Infinite, the Invisible and the Eter- 
nal, is well understood by every reader of the 
Bible. The whole drift of the Old Testament 
goes to this point, and to develop to the mind of 
man, the true idea of the Divine nature and at- 
tributes. And yet, the work was so far incom- 
plete, when our Lord came to finish it, that he 
says. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save 
the Son, and he to vv^homsoever the Son will re- 
veal him. 

In connexion with the progressive doctrine of 
God, was that of a coming life. Both the re- 
wards and penalties of the Mosaic economy- 
were temporal, those of another life being but 
faintly adumbrated by the temple, in its apart- 
ments, furniture and worship, which, as the apos- 
tle shows, was a type of heavenly things ; while 
the anathemas pronounced on ail capital viola- 
tions of the theocratic constitution, were design- 
ed gradually to prepare the mind for the concep- 
tion of a spiritual and endless hell. In this way 
a vocabulary was furnished, to express ideas of 
eternity, the terms of which were duly defined 
by the spiritual revelations of the New Testa- 
ment. And the resurrection of Christ broke up 
all the anticipations of a temporal Messiah and a 



172 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

temporal dominion under him, which even the apos- 
tles entertained to the last, and threw the mind 
forward to eternity, as the state in which all the 
moral elements of this life are soon to be merged, 
for weal or for wo. It was from this that arose 
the contempt of death, which was so remarkable 
a feature of primitive Christianity, as the apostle 
shows, when he says, " if only in this life we 
have hope, we are of all men most miserable." 

Now, when we have added to the foregoing, 
the ethical system of the Bible, with its sanc- 
tions, we have the whole of the revelation. 
Throughout all God's dealings with the race of 
man, both in a state of innocence, and after their 
lapse into sin, his claims upon them are kept 
continually in view, being enforced by no less 
sanctions than the primeval doom of the whole 
race for the sin of its progenitor, and subsequently 
by the destruction of the old w^orld by water, be- 
cause every imagination of the thoughts in the 
heart of man was only evil continually. In 
God's dealings with his chosen people, also, from 
the moment that Moses and Aaron began to ad- 
dress them in his name, the object of asserting 
in their view, the majesty and glory of his law, 
was never lost sight of. In the plagues visited 
upon Egypt for contempt of the Divine mandate ; 
in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the 
Red Sea; in the thundering, lightning and 



TO man's moral nature. 173 

tempest of Sinai ; in the varied sins and judg- 
ments of the subsequent sojourn in the wilder- 
ness ; and in the administration of the theocracy 
through all the long centuries that succeeded ; 
God kept in view the object of developing to the 
mind of man, not only the nature of law and 
moral obligation, but the high estimation in 
which he holds them himself, and in which he 
means his creatures shall hold them, throughout 
his universal dominion. And to complete the 
whole, he sent his Son to illustrate the law in his 
life, and to afford us a specimen of a perfect son, 
a perfect brother, a perfect benefactor ; or of hu- 
man character in these and all possible relations, 
as it would be, if it were not corrupted by sin. 
In his undeviating devotion to his Divine Father, 
doing only what would please him even to the 
sacrifice of his life, he illustrated the first table 
of the law, requiring supreme love to God ; and 
the second, requiring love to man, he unfolded by 
pouring out himself upon the altar of our hap- 
piness. He gave himself for us. Not only so, 
but his death was a sacrifice to the majesty of 
law, doing more to set forth the greatness of its 
penal provisions, than the doom of millions of 
guilty races to an endless hell. The gospel, 
therefore, in all its features, though an arrange- 
ment of mercy, contains a more lucid exhibition 
of the ethical principles of God's government, 
15* 



174 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

than had been made, even under the dispensa- 
tion of the law itself. 

Hence, the matter of the revelation divides 
itself into three grand departments, each of which 
is grafted upon an instinctive tendency of the 
human soul. From one department, we find 
materials to assist our tendencies to w^orship ; in 
those of another, our longings after immortality 
find ample scope ; while the other furnishes 
helps and encouragements to the moral sense, in 
relieving it of guilt, and directing it to whatever 
is lovely and of good report, which are a lamp 
to our path and a light to our feet. In spite of 
all that infidelity can do, such a revelation must 
always vibrate on the deep chords of sentiment 
in the heart of man. 

And when we turn to the manner of the rev- 
elation, we find more to stir the instincts than to 
exercise the reason. What is the usual mode of 
making a thing clear to the reason ? Is it not 
that of presenting arguments and propositions 
consecutively, in order to give a specific result, as 
in the mathematics? But I need not say how 
remote the Bible is from any thing of the kind. 

When God revealed himself to Moses as the 
I AM THAT I AM, or the Self-existent, and by the 
authority of that name, sent him to deliver his 
people from bondage, did he put Moses upon the 
track of any process of reasoning, by which it 



TO man's moral nature. 175 

might become clear to his mind, that the Being 
addressing him, was what he claimed to be ? 
Did He state to him a syllogism, or any similar 
process of demonstration, by which he might es- 
tablish the same to his people ? Not at all. Mo- 
ses was convinced by the burning, yet miconsum- 
ed bush, and by the mysterious voice that ad- 
dressed him. When he remonstrated against 
undertaking the mission, on the ground of his 
inability to make the people believe that the Lord 
had appeared to him, what method did God take 
to remove the objection ? Simply that of a mir- 
acle, in turning his shepherd's rod into a serpent. 
And to convince Pharaoh of his high commis- 
sion, Moses had power to smite his land with 
plagues. 

Thus miracle is the argument which God uses 
throughout the pages of his word. But it does 
not so much depend for its power over the mind, 
upon the simple exercise of reason, as upon the 
profound, mysterious and awful sentiments which 
it stirs up in the soul. It has no other affinity 
with the thing proved, than as it establishes the 
physical omnipotence of God. By lifting an 
enormous weight, a man shows his physical 
strength, but not his moral or intellectual power. 
So, the plagues of Egypt, the passage of the Red 
Sea, the stopping of the sun in his course, the 
cure of a leper by a word, a touch or an ablution, 



176 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

and most of the miracles both of the Old and 
New Testament, were exertions of power in the 
production of material changes. But they are 
no otherwise confirmatory of God's holiness, of 
the obligation of his law, or of his character and 
claims as an infinitely perfect moral governor, 
than as they establish the messages in which 
these truths are proclaimed. 

Whatever hold they may have on the reason, 
however, their deepest impression will be found 
in the sentiments of awe, reverence, fear and 
mystery which they awaken. The presence of 
an agency, arresting the course of nature and 
breaking up the established connexions of cause 
and effect, has a peculiar power to entrance the 
feelings and to set on foot a train of emotions, 
vastly more decisive of conduct and character, 
than any thing that comes to the mind in the 
form of a cold perception or intellectual convic- 
tion. The ghost of a dead man appearing to the 
living, or an angel entering a man's abode with 
messages from a higher world, are events con- 
nected with entirely a different order of impres- 
sions, from any arising in the course of nature, 
however extraordinary. Hence, the peculiar 
charm of those preternatural stories of witch- 
craft, of second sight, of premonitions of coming 
death, and a thousand things of the kind, with 
which every generation abounds. Hence the 



TO man's moral nature. 177 

power of oriental story tellers, who hold their 
auditors entranced the livelong night, to hear of 
genii, and apparitions, and enchanted castles, and 
giants, and ghosts, and of satanic, or angelic 
agency. 

How powerful is the influence of things like 
these, upon our unthinking childhood ! All the 
older novels, such as the Arabian Nights' Enter- 
tainment, are addressed to those mysterious in- 
stincts of the soul, as the modern ones are, for 
the most part, to the instinct of connubial love. 
Both alike feed, not the reason — for that is not 
convinced of their truth — ^but the sentiments, and 
both alike tend to their perversion. Our modern 
novels, we know, are far from being safe guides 
to our delicate attachments ; and those of former 
times, w^hile they fed the spiritual sentiments, 
did by no means, fit them for communion with 
the Father of our spirits. Still, as the one re- 
ceive their charm from those affections which 
lead to all that is benign and beneficial in the 
conjugalities ; so the other derive their interest 
from the sentiments which are conversant with 
God, eternity, and with all that is high and holy 
in religion. x4.nd it was upon these deep toned 
and powerful chords of our nature, that miracu- 
lous attestations vibrated so forcibly, so convinc- 
ingly. 

The Bible presents all it has to say, not in the 



178 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

protracted and consecutive series of a demonstra- 
tion^ but in the detached sentences of a dogma- 
tism. Even the doctrine of atonement, by the 
death of the adorable Lamb of God, has more 
in it to move the feelings than to feed the specu- 
lations of the reason. The doctrine of another life 
is presented in a form to awaken our hopes or our 
fears of a coming retribution, but not in a shape 
to be incorporated with the elements of a philo- 
sophical theory. The life of Jesus touches the 
same principles of our nature which awaken 
our interest in the highly wrought characters of 
a fiction. Our sentiments fire the imagination, 
and lead us to invest the object which has awak- 
ened them with preternatural traits of character. 
And the tendency of love to magnify the excel- 
lencies of its object, beyond all the possible facts 
of real life, is what gives us our interest in the 
exquisitely drawn characters of a novel, or the 
glowing descriptions of poetry. Hence, our 
Saviour's freedom from selfishness, from pride, 
from ambition, and from all the faults of human 
nature ; his devotion to his Father's glory, his 
unparalleled love for mankind leading him to die 
for his enemies, and the extraordinary features of 
moral beauty and excellence which he displays 
before our view, being suited to our instinctive 
aspirings after preternatural specimens of virtue 
and power, have peculiar advantages for wield- 



TO MAN S MORAL NATURE. 179 

ing a formidable influence over the interests of 
mankind. His life of thirty-three years on this 
footstool has done more to shape the social ele- 
ments than all that the genius of a Plato or an 
Aristotle could devise, than all that the splendid 
endowments of a Bacon or a Newton could un- 
fold. The simple power of mind, or even of em- 
battled enemies, could do little towards wielding 
the destinies of this world, in comparison with 
effectual appeals to those deep, profound and aw- 
ful sentiments w^hich are cognizant of duty and 
moral obligation, and that lead us up to God and 
eternity. 

Now, these things, I fear, are not sufficiently 
considered by Christians ; which accounts for the 
rage after simple mental povv^er as a means of 
building up holiness. The whole routine of 
study, in qualifying a man for the ministry, by 
whomsoever invented, is strangely at variance 
with the work which it professes to have in view. 
Hence, the difficulty of a young Christian to 
maintain his religion in his preparation for the 
ministry. He is all the time delving in things 
that seem but remotely connected with his work, 
as if a painter were to spend his time in wielding 
a blacksmith's sledge, in order to acquire &kill in 
wielding his pallet and his pencil. He comes 
out, therefore, an acute reasoner, a glowing 
essayist, an elegant declaimer, and with such 



180 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

like qualities, which, the more he has, the less he 
will know of the real elements of human nature, 
upon which he has to operate, or of the true 
mode of reaching and arousing them. The 
whole tone of his thinking, feeling and reason- 
ing, is calculated rather to repress the tendencies 
of an anxious person, than to conduct him to the 
crisis of pardon and salvation. Hence the much 
greater power of some, who are uneducated in 
the schools, but deeply read in the human heart 
and the laws of the Spirit, to move the religious 
sentiments and bring the soul into sublime com- 
munion with God. Though they fire light arms, 
yet they aim at the mark and hit it, while the 
heavy ordnance of the other, being discharged at 
random or in the opposite direction, fails of doing 
execution. 

Now, the church, by keeping the spiritual de- 
partment of man's nature in view, and adjusting 
her measures accordingly, will add greatly to her 
power of doing good. The sentiments of reli- 
gion and moral obligation, like the conjugal, have 
their appropriate object, and when it is presented, 
no elaborate reasoning is necessary to convince 
the mind of its being the right one. This is a 
matter of consciousness. Can the eye mistake 
its appropriate element ? Can the conjugal and 
parental instincts mistake the objects adapted to 
elicit them ? So, hold up to the mind objects 



TO man's moral nature. 181 

adapted to kindle the spiritual sympathies, and 
they never fail of producing an impression, in 
some form and to some extent. 

This we see, in the effect of the presence of 
Jesus of Nazareth to the Jewish nation. His 
unsurpassed meekness and love ; his godlike dis- 
interestedness ; his soft, deep, winning, powerful 
accents of persuasion, falling like notes from a 
higher world, leading them to confess, " never 
man spake like this man;" his works and mira- 
cles of beneficence, and all the points of his most 
extraordinary character, commended it to the con- 
science of the nation, as appropriate to the in- 
stinctive elements of that faculty, and, for a time, 
wrought in them so mightily, that they were like 
the man out of whom went the evil spirit walk- 
ing through dry places seeking rest and finding 
none. But their pride, their ambition, their hopes 
from the Messiah of a temporal dominion and 
freedom from the Eoman yoke, and of being rais- 
ed to an unprecedented pitch of worldly prosper- 
ity, came in to counteract their instinctive con- 
victions, to open the avenues of their heart to the 
return of the evil spirit with seven associates 
more wicked than himself, and thus to precipitate 
them upon an end more dreadful than the begin- 
ning. 

And who has not seen in times of revival, and 
under preaching eminently calculated to impress 
16 



182 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE 

the spiritual sentiments, whole communities ap*- 
parently conscious of the working of some ex- 
traordinary influence among them, bold and har- 
dy infidels reeling to and fro like a drunken man, 
at the gushing forth of feelings from within tend- 
ing to unsettle all their established con^^ictions, 
and even the worst of men, though as far as ever 
from any purpose of amendment, showing signs 
of a mysterious interest in the passing events ? 
That effects somewhat similar, also, should be- 
tray themselves in connexion with spurious reli- 
gion, as we have witnessed in those tumultuous 
excitements which have set men to ranting and 
jumping and howling and throwing their bodies 
into all manner of contortions, is no more singu- 
lar, than the extraordinary abuses to which the 
delicate passion of love is in some cases subject, 
as well as the other stronger impulses of our na- 
ture. These things rather evince the existence 
of such elements in our constitution as we speak 
of; for if our moral sense and our tendencies to 
religion, were referable exclusively to the reason, 
how should they be capable of such intense ex- 
citements, such repulsive abuses ? 

It is well known, that the most surprising feats 
of human nature are performed at the instiga- 
tion of what I call its instincts. A young lady, 
timid, delicately educated and attached to her 
home, if she conceive a passion for an object 



TO man's :.ro?tAL nature. 183 

deemed unworthy of her by her friends, will pre- 
cipitate herself, at the dead hour of night, from 
the w^indow of the parental abode, to wander with 
him in the line of contending armies, over bloody 
battle fields, or across the ocean wave, encoun- 
tering the bowlings of the storm and buffeting 
with dangers and difhculties that make the stout- 
est hearts quail. And why is all this ? Simply 
that the conjugal instinct is kindled, the object in 
her \ie\Y being invested with those noble, gene- 
rous and magnanimous qualities, that awaken in 
her the impression that none is like him, none so 
suitable to be the sharer of her fortune and her 
destiny. 

In like manner, when the spiritual instincts 
are kindled, man is prepared for the most extra- 
ordinary feats. Feeling pours its mighty cur- 
rent from the deep fountains of the soul, and 
neither courage, constancy, enterprise, nor ardor 
are wanting for the m.ost daring achievements. 
These are the qualities, and not the convictions 
of cold reason merely, that constitute the martyr 
spirit^ bold, indomitable, invincible. Neither 
racks nor gibbets, serpent dens nor conflicts with 
wild beasts, the blazing foggots of the stake, nor 
.any mode of torture within the compass of in- 
fernal ingenuity, could shake its purpose of de- 
votion to the Object, who, as a broad sun, fills 
and illumines the whole hemisphere of the soul. 



184 ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE, ETC. 

Why should ministers deem it necessary to 
read dry lectures to the reason, infusing religion 
into their hearers by dint of logic, as the mathe- 
matician drills his pupils in that science ? Why 
shrink so instinctively from excitement? Ex- 
citement ! Who that knows the alphabet of hu- 
man nature, does not know that great enterprises 
are always carried on by appeals to its excitable 
tendencies ? To what did Demosthenes so much 
address himself, as to arouse in his auditors the 
love of liberty, veneration for distinguished an- 
cestors and a great national history, or to the 
sentiments of patriotism and the fires of martial 
ardor ? Did he confine himself to dry logic, in 
setting forth the disasters of Philip's domination ? 
No ; he understood the excitable points of Athe- 
nian character, and there he levelled the artillery 
of his mighty eloquence, — an eloquence whose 
vibrations will never die away, while the heart 
has chords of noble sentiment to respond to its 
exquisite touches. Let the church, therefore, 
learn a lesson of wisdom from the man of this 
world ; yea, let her follow in the footsteps of her 
inspired exemplars, by studying to adjust her ef- 
forts, both in matter and manner, to the instinc- 
tive and more assailable points of the human 
character. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



ON THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST, AS THE 
GSEAT DESIDERATUM TO AN INCREASE OF MOR- 
AL POWER IN THE CHURCH APPROPRIATENESS 

OF THE BLESSING TO THE NATURE OF MAN 

ITS RELATION TO PREVIOUS DISPENSATIONS 

ITS PERMANENCY. 

Among those who profess to believe in Jesus, as 
the Messiah and Saviour of mankind, various 
views are entertained of the nature of his influ- 
ence, and of the manner of propagating it. 
Some suppose it to have been merely the influ- 
ence of an individual endowed with extraordinary 
virtues and truths ; and that its propagation is 
effected simply, by holding up his life and teach- 
ing to the minds of men. Others suppose Christ 
to have been truly and properly God, that every 
thing pertaining to him was out of the ordinary 
course of nature, and that his influence is propa- 
gated by the direct power of God. According to 
this view, each particular case of conversion is 
effected by special divine interposition, which is 
indicated, as it is supposed, by our being " crea- 
16* 



186 



THE BAPTISM OF 



ted in Christ unto good works," " quickened to- 
gether with him," " born of God," and by kin- 
dred passages. 

Whereas, the truth appears to lie between these 
extremes. It is this, that as Christ united in him- 
self all that is peculiar to humanity, except its 
guiltiness, as evinced by his being made of a wo- 
man ; and all that is peculiar in the attributes of 
God, as evinced by his miracles and resurrection ; 
so a similar union is effected, both in his influ- 
ence itself and in the modes of its propagation. 
So far as he partook of human nature, his influ- 
ence, virtue or religion was simply that of an in- 
dividual endowed with unmingled and unspotted 
excellence, and he is an example of how an un- 
corrupted man would act, not in a sinless condi- 
tion, not as Adam was in the garden, but in the 
actual state of things as they exist in this guilty 
and suffering world. But so far as his character 
was supernatural and divine, his influence both 
in itself and in the modes of its propagation, was 
entirely above the reach of the human capacities 
even in an uncorrupted state. That is to say, a 
mere man living as holy as Jesus of Nazareth 
and under his actual circumstances in life, would 
have been disqualified, not merely to satisfy the 
penal claims of the law for our transgression, 
but to set on foot such a train of causes, so pow- 
erful, so commanding, so agitating to the human 



THE HOLY GHOST. 1S7 

80ul and to the social elements, as that which ac- 
tually accrued from his advent, and which has 
wrought so extensively and gloriously for the last 
eighteen hundred years. 

And up to this present hour, it seems to me, a 
similar union exists between humanity and divin- 
ity, in the person of the church and the indwell- 
ing Spirit. As it is said in Acts, we are witnesses 
of these things ; and so is also the Holy Ghost, 
whom God hath given to them that obey him. 
Thus, the propagation of the influence from the 
person and the life of Jesus, to this day, and its 
future propagation to the end of time, when the 
kingdoms of this world shall become the king- 
doms of our Lord and his Christ, has been, is 
and will be carried on by the united agencies of 
the church in the use of the written word, and 
the Holy Spirit. 

In applying the word baptism to the present 
influence of the Spirit, in them that believe and 
obey the gospel, I shall doubtless by some be 
thought guilty of a perversion in terms, as they 
have been accustomed to suppose that the pecu- 
liar gifts of the Spirit, indicated by that word, 
were the sole privilege of the primitive church. 
But when I have explained the sense which I at- 
tach to the term, I shall doubtless carry with me 
in that, if not in the word I use to express it, the 
convictions of all spiritual Christians. I mean 



188 



THE BAPTISM OF 



by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that extraoi> 
dinary measure of spiritual influence which en- 
ables a Christian to surmount his lust, his pride, 
his vanity, his worldliness, and all the forms of 
his selfishness ; and that so fills him with God, 
that love, joy, peace, long-sufiering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and every 
divine afiection and virtue, flow forth from his 
soul continually, springing up into everlasting 
life. It is the constant flowing of these divine 
qualities, directly to God, and on every hand 
through the channel of all the social relations, 
that our Saviour alludes to, when he says. He 
that believeth on me, as the Scripture, hath said, 
out of his belly shall flow rivers [not river] of 
living water : for this he spake of the Spirit 
which they that believe on him should receive ; 
for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus 
was not yet glorified. As a living fountain in an 
elevated place, sends its streams down the accliv- 
ity in every direction, describing green and beau- 
tiful belts of verdure wherever they go through 
the otherwise arid waste ; so those Christians, 
who enjoy that fulness of the Holy Ghost, which 
I call a baptism, are continually throwing out all 
around them, influences to bless and beautify the 
moral landscape. And did I believe there were 
none such now on earth, or that the hope of any 
Christian beinof such, were withdrawn from the 



THE HOLY GHOST. 189 

spiritual family, not only would a large part of 
the Bible be to me a perfect enigma, but I could 
have no confidence of a successful issue to any 
of our means of propagating the influence of 
Christianity. This was the kind of baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, which I suppose to have been 
the privilege of the great mass of the believers 
in the apostolic age ; the gift of inspiration and 
miracle being confined but to a comparative 
few. 

I ought perhaps here to say, before passing, 
that I do not understand by the Holy Spirit, a bare 
emanation from God ; but a distinct Divine per- 
son. Hence, as a distinct person or subsistence, 
the ordinance of baptism is administered in his 
name ; and he is represented as sinned against, 
as resisted, as quenched and grieved ; and as per- 
forming acts of his own, such as brooding on the 
face of the waters, taking of the things of Christ 
and showing them to his people, reproving the 
world of sin, righteousness and judgment; and 
as sealing believers unto life everlasting. Con- 
sequently when the Holy Spirit dwells in our 
hearts, our bodies become his temple and we are 
filled with all the fulness of God. 

1. This gracious gift of the Spirit is appro- 
priate to the constitution and condition of human 
nature in the present world. Wherever we con- 
template man, whether in a savage or civilized 



190 THE BAPTISM OF 

State, we find the marks of design on the part of 
Him who sketched the plan of his being, to keep 
up with him special communications. He has 
left a chasm in our means of necessary knowl- 
edge, that cannot be filled by any of the natural 
helps to our understanding. Man has, as we 
saw in our last two chapters, an instinct to w^or- 
ship and to immortality, as well as a moral sense. 
But can nature fully satisfy him, as to the char- 
acter and claims of the Being whom he ought to 
worship ? He may indeed learn from this source, 
the power and greatness of God ; but as to his 
justice and his mercy, his truth and his holiness, 
he must remain in the dark, unless enlightened 
by other means of knowledge. 

Equally deficient, also, are our means of being 
assured of existence after death. The hope of 
immortality, though prevalent among most of the 
tribes of men, is no where an available and an 
ennobling sentiment, except where divine revela- 
tion has shed its light. The followers of Ma- 
homet entertained it without becoming better 
men ; and among the pagans it is associated 
with neither purity in morals nor consolation in 
death. And besides, the dark, contradictory and 
confused ideas of virtue and moral obligation, 
which prevail every where among the unevan- 
gelized portions of mankind, conclusively show, 
that our natural helps to information on this sub* 



THE HOLY GHOST. 191 

ject, are not such as to meet our wants, nor to 
afford a uniform standard of right and wrong. 

What the constitution of man gives us reason 
to expect, therefore, is fully realized in the histo- 
ry of God's dealings with him. A series of rev- 
elations, commencing before the fall, was kept up 
for four thousand years, thus evincing God's sense 
of our incompetency to do without them. Even 
while man was yet holy, God communed with 
him of things material to his virtue and happi- 
ness, thus showing that a holy condition of the 
moral faculties, did not supercede the necessity 
of a special tutelage and supervision from our 
heavenly Father. 

And now, I ask, has a change come over the 
nature of man, to make him more independent 
of influences direct from God, than ever ? It is 
true we have the letter of the finished revelation ; 
but how powerless is it, where the Spirit does 
not carry it home to the heart ! God demands a 
worship that shall consist, not merely in the ex- 
ercise of the intellect, in contemplating revealed 
truth, but of the spiritual affections. All the 
samples of worship furnished in the Bible, evi- 
dently include these, as may be instanced in 
the case of Mary, w^hen she said, My soul doth 
magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in 
God my Saviour. But can the Bible ensure 
this kind of worship, without the aid of the 



192 THE BAPTISM OF 

Holy Spirit? How many have enlarged ac- 
quaintance with its contents, and are acute in 
their reasonings upon them, who have no cor- 
responding affections ! They are like mere 
critics in poetry, who, with all their knowledge of 
the rules of that art, have not the soul of the 
sentiment to qualify them for writing a good 
poem. Just so, unless our pious affections are 
kindled, our worship can amount to nothing 
more than a cold exercise of the reason, and of 
course can neither exert over ourselves a trans- 
forming influence, nor be acceptable to Him who 
looketh upon the heart. 

But to enjoy this state of the affections, there 
must be a communion of the human with the 
divine Spirit. And this communion does not 
necessarily take place through the channel of 
the intellect. It is sometimes effected through 
sounds falling on the ear, when no idea is con- 
veyed ; as in the exquisite strains of pious mu- 
sic from a harp or an organ, lifting up the soul 
to God in a way that no exercise of simple intel- 
lect can do it. And the communion between 
two human spirits, is sometimes independent of 
thoughts conveyed to the mind. A capricious 
patient, who will resist the most convincing ar- 
guments that one man may offer to his reason, 
to induce him to take a certain medicine, may 
receive it freely from his favorite nurse, merely 



THE HOLY GHOST. 193 

because she is in his confidence, or is able to 
touch the delicate chords of his feelings. If be- 
tween our grosser natures, therefore, there exists 
such a mingling of heart with heart, dare we 
assume that he who is all Spirit, cannot take the 
human soul into a communion with himself, 
which shall be independent of all the ordinary- 
channels of communication between mind and 
mind ! Those who suppose that the perceiving 
faculty is the only point of contact and com- 
munion between the soul and God, cannot know 
much of the real elements of spirit, or of the 
facts of human nature. We have only to ac- 
quaint ourselves with these, to be convinced that 
the gift of the Holy Spirit, to make our bodies 
his temples and to live in constant communion 
with our spirits, is every way appropriate to our 
nature and constitution. This, together with 
the written word, is God's perfected arrange- 
ment, both for filling the chasm in our means of 
necessary knowledge, and to satisfy the aspir- 
ings of our spiritual instincts. 

2. But there are many interesting points of 
relation between the Spirit's agency in the 
church, and what had gone before in the previ- 
ous dispensations. That the Spirit of God, 
prior to his descent on the day of pentecost, was 
the animating principle in pious men, I do not 
deny. But his manifestation on that occasion, 
17 



194 THE BAPTISM OF 

SO far exceeded all that had gone before, that it 
became the characteristic of the new dispensa- 
tion. It had been before that, only occasion- 
al, being unprovided with any fixed organ to the 
human mind. God had appeared to the patri- 
archs by dreams, visions, angel visits, and 
through various channels for communicating his 
will. But at Sinai, he provided a definite ar- 
rangement of outward means, with which, when 
the people observed them according to his ap- 
pointment, he had pledged his honor to be al- 
ways present. 

When Moses had fastened the sockets, put in 
the bars, reared the pillars and spread abroad the 
covering of the tabernacle ; when he had deposited 
in it the ark and set up the vail ; and thus when 
the whole work was finished and committed to 
the care of its consecrated priests in their sacred 
vestments, according to the pattern shown in the 
mount, *' then a cloud covered the tent of the 
congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the 
tabernacle." ^' And when the cloud was taken 
up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel 
went onward in all their journeys : but if the 
cloud were not taken up, then they journied not 
till it was taken up." Thus, the efficiency or 
animating principle in that institution of worship, 
was not in the tabernacle and its utensils, nor its 
officiating priests ; nor in the twelve tribes dis- 



THE HOLY GHOST. 195 

posed in beautiful order on every hand ; but it 
was in the cloud that rested down upon the 
whole, as the symbol of God's presence. 

Precisely thus is it with the gospel church. 
The organ is different, but still it is nothing but 
an organ, of which the Spirit of God is the soul, 
the life and the power. And hence, after our 
Saviour had brought all its parts together, and 
every outward arrangement for the new dispensa- 
tion was complete, he required his disciples to 
tarry still at Jerusalem, till they should be endued 
with power from on high. The celestial glory must 
rest down on the church, before she could make 
even such facts as the life, teaching, death, and res- 
urrection of Christ had supplied, effectual to the 
salvation of a single soul. " It is expedient for 
you," said Jesus to his disciples, " that I go 
away ; for if I go not away the Comforter will 
not come unto you : but if I depart, I will send 
him unto you." My death, resurrection and 
ascension must be added to what I have already 
done, before the Spirit can be given and the effi- 
ciency for the salvation of this world made com- 
plete. " When he the spirit of truth is come, he 
will guide you into all truth : for he shall not 
speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, 
that shall he speak : and he shall show you 
things to come : for he shall receive of mine and 
shall show it unto you." He shall not come to 



196 THE BAPTISM OF 

add to the revelation ; for that is complete in nie ; 
but he shall be in your minds the realization and 
the animating principle of the revelation already 
made ; as the visible glory of God in the taber- 
nacle, while it added nothing to the outward 
fixtures of that structure, imparted to it its sole 
value as an instrument of good to mankind. 

Thus, as the revelation at Sinai exceeded any 
thing previously enjoyed; and as fixed arrange- 
ments were made for the communication of 
God's will permanently to the people, whenever 
they should conform to the prescribed conditions ; 
so the Spirit, on the day of pentecost, was not 
only given in larger measure than ever before, 
but provision was made for him to take up his 
abode in the hearts of God's children, as their 
present efficiency in doing good, and as the 
earnest of their future inheritance, until the re- 
demption of the purchased possession to the 
praise of God's glory. As the tabernacle and 
temple were a type and forerunner of the 
Christian church ; as the sacrifice of the paschal 
lamb looked forward to the atonement of the 
Sort of God upon the cross ; and as the priest- 
hood of Aaron was merged in that of our Sav- 
iour ; so all the miraculous communications of 
God to man in the previous dispensations, were 
forerunners and adumbrations of the present 
office-work of the Holy Spirit in the church. 



THE HOLY GHOST. 197 

The Shechinah or visible glory of God on the 
mercy seat, the urim and thummim, the sacred 
ephod, the inspiration of prophets and wise men, 
the intermediation of angels, and the fire that 
ever and anon came down from heaven to con- 
sume the victim, now find their successor in the 
more intimate, more constant, more satisfactory 
gift of the Holy Spirit, to take up his abode in 
the church. 

God's previous communications had been 
through signs of various descriptions acting upon 
the senses and the imagination; but now it is by 
an influence acting directly on the spiritual affec- 
tions, and bringing them into such a state of 
purity and light, as to render them safe guides 
in all matters of life and conduct. And to this 
doubtless the apostle alludes, when he said to his 
brethren, The anointing which ye have received 
of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any 
man teach you : but as the anointing teacheth 
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and 
even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 
If this language means any thing, it means that 
the Holy Spirit exerts upon believers an in- 
fluence, that renders them, as it were, instinc- 
tively sensible to the difference between right 
and wrong, so that they are not like others, de- 
pendent on exterior helps in casuistry ; for the 

law is written on their inward parts and they 
17# 



198 THE BAPTISM OF 

have only to follow up the tendencies of the new 
nature begotten within them, to enjoy all the 
adornments of virtue and all the supports of im- 
mortal hope. The language was taken from the 
consecration of kings and priests by means of 
the sacred chrism, when an influence, like that 
in the case of Saul giving him another heart, 
and in that of David stirring him up to deeds of 
piety and valor, was supposed to diffuse itself 
through the mind of the person anointed, as the 
oil went over his body. So, w^hen the word is 
applied to the sinner's mind and he receives its 
ingrafting, or commits himself fully to it, then 
an influence is diffused through his soul, which 
is over and above any thing that the word itself 
could impart, an influence such as the apostle 
desired upon his brethren in still larger and 
larger measures, filling them with all the fulness 
of God. Then it is that the fire comes down, 
not upon an altar of stone, but upon the fleshly 
tables of the heart, consuming the carnal and 
selfish passions, and melting the soul into the 
will of God. 

3. As to the question, whether the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, in the sense already explained, 
was designed for permanency in the church, lit- 
tle need be said. As the accident of inspiration 
and miracle attended it, as enjoyed by a portion 
of the primitive church, I fear that multitudes of 



THE HOLY GHOST. 199 

Christians are contenting themselves with an ex- 
ceedingly low order of spiritual influence, under 
the notion that nothing better is provided for 
them. Having no faith, therefore, in the possi- 
bility of such a blessing, how can it be expected 
that they should enjoy it '? 

But how should our Saviour speak of the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost, as " the promise of his 
Father," as the blessing which he died, rose 
again and ascended to heaven, or went away to 
procure, and thus make it the grand characteris- 
tic of his dispensation, if it was intended only 
for the little handful of his personal followers, or 
for the primitive church ? Is not this the stand- 
ing living substance, of which all previous di- 
vine communications, were but the type and the 
forerunner ? Is it not in such a heavenly bap- 
tism, that we are to realize Christ in us the hope 
of glory, God dwelling in our hearts and making 
our bodies his earthly temple and his throne ; 
yea, is not this his peculiar, his chosen method 
of meeting the wants of our spiritual nature, and 
of creating in us an efficiency for the conquest 
of the world ? 

But we depend not upon doubtful reasonings 
for the establishment of this point. We have 
the positive testimony of our Saviour, that he 
would pray the Father and he would give us 
another Comforter, who should abide loith us 



200 THE BAPTISM OF 

FOREVER. This is the true fire coming down 
from heaven to burn up the victim, on which ac- 
count it is compared to that element ? There sat 
upon them cloven tongues like as of jire^ and we 
are commanded not to quench the Spirit. Can 
it be supposed, therefore, that such a gift, the 
substance of such a previous adumbration as that 
which gave life and power both to the patriarchal 
and Mosaic dispensations, a gift with which is 
identified the sole efficiency of Christianity in 
obtaining the dominion of the world, was design- 
ed only for a single age, and that Christians 
now are to expect no other baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, than what consists in having kind, amia- 
ble and virtuous tempers, principles and habits ? 
Do conversions, as they usually exist among us, 
or piety in its ordinary measure and proportion, 
contain the only realization of spiritual influence 
at present possible to the church ? Is this all we 
are to expect from a gift introduced by such glow- 
ing harbingers, and by scenes so painful and glo- 
rious as those spread out between the crucifixion 
and ascension ? 

Alas, these views, like too much of our theol- 
ogy, are manufactured, not to suit the Bible, but 
the actual state of things among professors of re- 
ligion. Many of them, I grant, have no other 
Holy Ghost, and no other divine fulness, than 
what consists in being moral, amiable and virtu- 



THE HOLY GHOST. 201 

ous men ; and some I fear have not as much as 
this. But shall we set up our experience against 
the promise of Christ ? Because loe have expe- 
rienced nothing to answer to that fulness of the 
Spirit, enjoyed by the primitive church and in- 
troduced by our Saviour with so much solemnity, 
shall we therefore conclude that it is not among 
the present gifts of our interceding High Priest ? 
Is not Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever ? 

It is true that miracle and inspiration, were in 
some cases concomitants of the Spirit's work, 
in the primitive church, to assist her incipient 
efforts to triumph over human malignity and pre- 
judice. But these were the accidents of that age, 
and not inherent to the gift itself. Speaking the 
word in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
involves neither inspiration nor miracle, but 
merely those influences which are ordinary and 
permanent among eminently spiritual Christians. 
These, and not miracle, were the things that 
made the word, in the hands of primitive minis- 
ters, the power of God unto salvation. And 
these it is our privilege to enjoy. Let us no 
more, therefore, excuse the low measure of spirit- 
ual influence among us, under the plea, that the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost is not at present to be 
expected. No, let us claim our Saviour's prom- 
ise, that he that believeth in Him, out of him 



202 THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

shall flow rivers of living water. Let us impute 
our inefficiency to its real cause, the low order of 
our faith and expectation in reference to enjoying 
the Spirit's fulness. According to our unbelief, 
so it is done unto us. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED ATTITUDE OF MIND 

NECESSARY TO RECEIVE THE SPIRIT ITS EF- 
FECTS MEANS FOR ENJOYING IT IN ENLARGED 

MEASURES. 

I. As to the attitude of mind in which the spirit 
must be received, having already spoken to some 
extent, less need be said in this place. It seems 
to me that the Holy Spirit comes to a man's re- 
lief, at that point where, convinced of the fitness 
of all the gospel requires, he has made up his 
mind to li^^e up to its claim_s, and is putting forth 
the endeavor to carry out this determination. Ev- 
ery convicted sinner, when he reaches this point, 
finds how impossible it is for him to withstand 
the law in his members ; and there he would re- 
main till he sunk to hell, did not the Holy Spirit 
beget in him those divine affections which ena- 
ble him to fulfil the law. Hence the propriety of 
the language, the Law is fulfilled in us who walk 
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. 

This appears to have been the attitude of 
mind in which the apostles received the bless- 



204 THE BAPTISM OF 

ing. Their design of obeying Christ in all 
things, was fully settled ; though they wanted 
the firmness, the courage, the confidence and the 
power of carrying it into execution. Our Lord, 
aware of this, directed them to tarry at Jerusa- 
lem till they should be endued with power 
from on high. Accordingly, they remained fifty 
days after the crucifixion, praying, waiting and 
looking for some gift of whose nature they as 
yet had no definite idea. All this time, howev- 
er, there was no defect of intention to do the 
will of their Master. 

The three thousand, also, were pricked in the 
heart under the sermon of Peter, and under the 
poignancy of their guilt, they inquired what 
they should do, in a manner indicating their in- 
tention to do it, be it what it might. And no 
sooner were they informed as to what was re- 
quired of them, than they proceeded to the 
doing of it, in the best way they could. In this 
attitude of obeying the truth, therefore, the Spir- 
it met with them, as Peter had promised, fill- 
ing them with gracious affections, and thus mak- 
ing services that would otherwise have been in- 
tolerable, a source of joy and gladness. Such 
also, was the manner in which Saul of Tarsus, 
Cornelius and his household, and all the primi- 
tive converts, received the Holy Spirit. This 
accords to the statement in Acts 5 : 32, that the 



THE HOLY GHOST. 205 

Holy Ghost is a gift that God bestows on them 
that obey him ; that is, those whose wills or vol- 
untary powers, are in a condition of subjection to 
the truth. 

When the convicted sinner has come to the 
poin. of surrendering to the truth, he finds him- 
self obstructed by a law in his members, warring 
against the law of his mind, and bringing him 
into captivity to the law of sin and death. Hence, 
the things he would, he cannot do ; and those he 
would not, he is precipitated upon the doing, by 
a fatality that he cannot resist. And in the des- 
pair of this struggle, to do what his mind has em- 
braced but his recreant passions cannot brook, he 
cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death ? At this 
extreme crisis, the Holy Spirit comes into his soul, 
takes of the things of Christ and shows them to 
him, and enables him to cry out in the spirit of 
adoption, Abba, Father. Instantly he finds him- 
self in Christ as his wisdom, righteousness, sanc- 
tification and redemption. All sense of guilt 
vanishes, the laAV requiring supreme love to God 
and equal love to men, he finds not only accord- 
ant with the convictions of his reason, but with 
every pulsation of his affections. 

That the Spirit should be received in any other 
attitude of the voluntary powers, is as contradic- 
tory to the laws of accountable agency, as it is to 
18 



206 THE BAPTISM OF 

the word of God. As we have already spoken 
on this subject, however, we will only add the 
testimony of Bloomfield in his Notes on Gal. 5 : 
22, — " Evil works come from ourselves alone ; 
therefore, they are called the ivorks of the flesh ; 
but virtuous ones require not our exertion alone, 
but the aid of Divine grace : therefore the apos- 
tle calls them the fruits of the Spirit ; the seed 
(namely, the intention,) being from ourselves ; but 
the fruit resting with God." 

11. We come now to consider more fully, the 
effects or indications of the Spirit's presence in 
the soul and in the church. It is not to be sup- 
posed, that the infinite God would take up his 
abode in a man's soul, without leaving upon his 
character and condition, extraordinary tokens of 
the Divine presence. Would the king spend a 
night in the cottage of a peasant, without leaving 
behind him some token of the royal bounty ? 
Yea, would he come there to take up his abode, 
without imparting to the residence and planta- 
tion, an aspect suited to his kingly state ? 

Much less will the infinite God live in a man's 
soul, without gracious indications of the royal 
munificence. Even in the past dispensation, 
God's presence among his people manifested it- 
self in the conquest of their enemies, in the pro- 
ductiveness of their soil, in the increase of their 
flocks and herds and in the diffusion of bloom 



THE HOLY GHOST. 207 

and beauty all abroad. Carmel's summit dis- 
played a richer green ; Hermon's acclivity with 
its varying belts of cloud and sunshine, sent forth 
more fertilizing vapor to irrigate the soil ; Ophir 
and Tarshish poured still ampler stores into the 
marts of trade ; the cleft rocks of Judah's moun- 
tains afforded honey in greater abundance ; health 
smiled on every hand ; while the motto of all 
was, every man under his own vine and figtree, 
none daring to molest or make him afraid. Was 
not Obed-edom, with his household and all that he 
had, rendered doubly prosperous and happy, by a 
three months residence of the ark of God within 
his doors ? How much more, then, will the 
Spirit's indwelling invest itself with still richer 
and more enduring blessings, as suited to the na- 
ture of the soul ! 

1. Those who enjoy such a blessing will be 
filled with unspeakable joy in God, Hence, men- 
tion is made of receiving the word with the joy 
of the Holy Ghost. There was great joy in 
those places where the Lord revived his work 
through the labors of the apostles. The converts 
at Jerusalem are said to have continued daily 
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread 
from house to house, eating their meat with glad- 
ness and singleness of heart, praising God and 
having favor with all the people. And Peter 
speaks of it, as ioy unspeakable and full of glory. 



208 THE BAPTISM OF 

This joy, even in modern times, has in some 
cases, almost exceeded endurance, and instances 
of a total prostration of the bodily strength, are 
by no means uncommon. This frequently hap- 
pened in the family of President Edwards, and 
that too in the person of his wife, a lady of fine 
endowments, both natural and acquired. And 
her husband testifies that her health was never 
better than at that period when her bodily pros- 
tration, from a sense of Christ's amazing love, 
were the most frequent. Often when this theme 
was touched upon, she was so overwhelmed as to 
be unable to sustain her own weight, being borne 
ofT to her room and left there to revel amid the 
ecstacies of Divine love. 

Such effects are by no means surprising, when 
we consider the greatness and glory of the cause 
on w^hich they depend. God making our bodies 
his temple ; the Holy Spirit opening to our 
hearts a rill from the fountain of infinite love ; 
Christ in us the hope of glory ; and we the sub- 
jects of such a transformation to his likeness, as 
to make it true of us, that " as he is, so are we 
in this world." O, how should not emotions, too 
deep and powerful for endurance by our animal 
frames, be awakened by considerations like 
these ? The force of those oft repeated exhor- 
tations, to rejoice in the Lord, can only be appre- 
ciated by those into whom the Spirit has come 
with all his gifts and graces. 



THE HOLY GHOST. 209 

2. Another effect of the Spirit's indwelling, 
is that of a peculiar insight into the Scriptures, 
To unfold the word of Christ, to give us an in- 
sight into the fulfillment of the Old Testament in 
him, to apply the promises so as to enable us to 
rest upon them as our own, and to make every- 
thing pertaining to the kingdom of God plain 
and easy, is peculiarly the office-work of the 
Spirit. " When he the Comforter is come, 
whom I will send unto you from the Father, he 
shall testify of me ; he shall guide you into all 
truth ; he shall receive of mine and shall show 
it unto you." These passages im.ply, that the 
Spirit shall enlighten those in whom he dwells 
in every revelation of the Old and New Testa- 
ment Scriptures, in God's providential govern- 
ment of the world, and in all those parts of his 
great administration, which are subjected to our 
inspection. And so it happens to all w^ho are 
filled with the Spirit. The secret of the Lord 
is with them that fear him. The highest order 
of intellect, with the best possible helps from 
lexicographers, interpreters and philologists, in it- 
self considered, cannot know so much of the 
real meaning and force of the Bible, as the 
feeblest of all those v/ho are favored with the 
fulness of the Spirit's illumination. 

3. An extraordinary power of overcoming 
difficulties^ is another effect of the Spirit's in- 

18* 



210 THE BAPTISM OF 

dwelling. It was " through the power of the 
Spirit," that the apostles were endowed with the 
miraculous gifts and preternatural courage, that 
enabled them to cope successfully with the con- 
solidated strength of all nations. And the same 
powers he will again impart to the church, when 
the exigencies of her circumstances require it. 
For God has promised, that as her day is, so 
shall her strength be. 

At present, those who believe, experience his 
sustaining influence under the evils of life. 
Amid their sorest calamities, they still rejoice in 
iiope of the glory of God. He gives them 
strength, also, to overcome the temptations of 
the devil and the allurements of the world. 
They are of God and overcome their spiritual 
foes ; because greater is he that is in them, than 
he that is in the world. Yes, a more powerful 
energy, than all the combined forces of evil, 
works in those who are filled with all the ful- 
ness of God. 

As soon as Christians are filled with Spirit, 
the difficulties in the way of a revival vanish. 
Ministers deliver their message, not in words 
only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. The 
truth, being melted into their own souls, comes 
from their lips like a two edged sword, cutting 
on every hand and prostrating to the feet of 
sovereign mercy, the most obdurate and aban- 



THE HOLY GHOST. 211 

doned. Preaching ceases to be a mere catering 
to curiosity, to intellect, or to earthborn sympa- 
thies, and becomes an assault upon the spiritual 
affections — a voice from the eternal throne, agi- 
tating the soul to its centre ; and every one is 
astonished at the man, because he speaks as one 
having authority and not as the Scribes, not in 
the dry, drivelling and soulless strain of ordinary 
pulpit exhibitions. 

Yea, those who enjoy this blessing are able to 
meet death with composure. They even desire 
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 
Their faith is an ennobling and comprehensive 
exercise, taking in eternity, expatiating amid in- 
visible glories, bringing them into happy com- 
panionship with the church of the First Born 
whose names are written in heaven, and is the 
substance of things hoped for and the evidence 
of things not seen. The Spirit in their hearts is 
the earnest and actual realization of heaven. 
Its undying joy pours its sweet current through 
the soul, its peace flows in upon them like a 
river, and they feel an assurance that their light 
afflictions which are but for a moment will 
work for them a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. Every thing connected with 
religion is rendered easy and happy by the in- 
dwelling God. All the graces of the spirit, faith, 
hope and love, that otherwise seemed impossible, 



212 THE BAPTISM OF 

now become easy, flowing forth from the soul 
like an exuberant fountain, springing up into 
everlasting life. Oh glorious blessing, divine 
state, ineffable life ! 

4. The poiver of extensive usefulness is 
another concomitant of this spiritual baptism. In 
connexion with personal sanctification to those 
who enjoy the Spirit's fulness, are streams of 
usefulness to their fellow-men, breaking forth on 
every hand, to render hundreds, and perhaps 
thousands and millions happier for the gracious 
influence. This it is, that accounts for the ex- 
treme fertility of Baxter's mind in arguments 
and persuasions with lost men to be reconciled to 
God. What untold numbers have been refresh- 
ed, comforted and saved, by means of those 
streams of truth and holy love which have issu- 
ed from his exuberant pen ! Not force of native 
intellect, nor superiority of acquired endowments, 
but the baptism of the Holy Ghost, made White- 
field one of the brightest lights of his age, filling 
two continents with the splendor of his illumina- 
tion. This no doubt was the secret energy, also, 
that wrought in the soul of Howard, carrying 
him into the deep dungeon of the prisoner, to sof- 
ten his stony pillow, to dispel the vapors of his 
noxious abode by genial breezes, and to shed rays 
of love and mercy in a region before unpenetrat- 
ed by their heavenly light. It was the fire com- 



THE HOLY GHOST. 231 

ing down from heaven and consuming the victim 
on the altar of Bunyan's heart, that kindled his 
uncultivated powers to an energy of pious think- 
ing, that has left his name to an enviable immor- 
tality. Yea, from the age of Him on whom rest- 
ed the Spirit without measure, to this moment, 
all who have done great service in extending 
that kingdom which is not of this world, have 
enjoyed that extraordinary measure of Divine in- 
fluence, which I call a baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

It is so now. The individual who enjoys this 
peculiar blessing in the highest degree, is the one 
to shed around him the best influences. The 
family in which he dwells, the church to which 
he belongs, the neighborhood in which he is a 
resident, the circle where he moves, the business 
men with whom he deals, are all made to feel 
the power of his piety, and are forced to confess, 
that, however it may be with others, that is a 
good man and full of faith and of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Now, all the real power of the church for 
building up spiritual religion, is in the hands of 
this class of members. The others may fabricate 
creeds or contend about them ; may build meet- 
ing houses and provide their fixtures ; may see 
to it that the church has an air of fashion and 
respectability in the eyes of the world ; may col- 
lect and supervise our charitable funds ; may 



214 THE BAPTISM OF 

preach intellectually, metaphysically, eloquently,' 
and touch a thousand tender chords of sentiment ; 
but the anointing that abideth does not follow. 
All their influence, therefore, though it may run 
through years of unprecedented popularity, will 
be cut off like foam upon the water. " Without 
me, ye can do nothing." 

III. What importance must attach to the 
means of obtaining this spiritual baptism ! Here 
lies the hope of the church, and through her, of 
the world, to whom she is given as the organ of 
God's power in salvation. How solemn, how se- 
rious, how weighty, therefore, are the considera- 
tions that cluster round the inquiry, how may 
Christians obtain this divine fulness ? That it is 
not generally enjoyed, is my painful conviction. 
Though I purpose not to go into the theory of 
the thing, how men can be converted without 
it ; yet that they are so, in the common accepta- 
tion of conversion, without any experience an- 
swering to the views which the Scriptures give 
of this subject, does seem to me too clear to re- 
quire showing. And it must be made otherwise, 

1. By a onore thorough development in the 
church at large^ and especially its ministers^ — of 
what belongs to the office loork of the Holy Spirit 
in the plan of redemption. Till we arrive at 
this result, our conversions can never undergo 
essential improvement. Any one who shall 



THE HOLY GHOST. 215 

compare the religious literature of our own times 
with that of the seventeenth century, for in- 
stance, will see that though we have more show, 
more stir, more finery and attempt at effect, we 
have not that acquaintance with the deep things 
of God which has been enjoyed at some former 
periods. Selections from the works of Owen, 
Howe, Baxter and others, will show this. The 
difference is like that between two pugilists, one 
of w^hom comes upon the arena with the calm 
consciousness of his own superior strength, pro- 
ceeding to the combat with dignity and a strict 
observance of the prescribed rules, expecting to 
win in the end, what he fails to secure by his 
first blows. While the other, with small calibre, 
is endeavoring to supply, by the heat and vehe- 
mence of present effect, what he has not the 
power of carrying out and sustaining through a 
protracted warfare. 

Those old divines did battle upon the giant 
evils of the world, with calm confidence in the 
power of the Cross and the sufficiency of the 
Spirit's resources, for all desirable, all possible 
reforms. But w^e, having almost lost the knowl- 
edge whether there be any Holy Ghost, are push- 
ing in this direction, and pushing in that ; deal- 
ing blows, now at intemperance, noio at licen- 
tiousness, 71010 at slavery ; now for the produc- 
tion of revivals, noio upon the multiplication of 



216 THE BAPTISM OF 

men and money for missions and Bible distribu- 
tion ; and in the midst of it all, relying more 
upon public sentiment and upon pulling the vari- 
ous strings of popular influence, than upon such 
exemplifications of the Spirit's power in us, as is 
necessary to the calm, persevering and successful 
prosecution of the great enterprise of benevo- 
lence. Such is my confidence in the power of 
those influences which cluster round the Cross, in 
accomplishing all desirable reforms, that, could 
the same amount of interest be produced among 
Christians at large, to enjoy the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, or to realize in themselves all that 
grace can do for a soul in this world, that is felt 
in some of our reforming schemes, I believe that 
even those schemes would more rapidly advance 
to their desirable issues ; while on every hand 
would be seen, in addition, the joy and peace of 
an indwelling Saviour and the triumphant hope 
of a better world. But I am sorry to say, that 
the atmosphere breathed by our most zealous and 
blustering reformers, seems to me extremely re- 
mote from that of Jesus of Nazareth, and the 
primitive church. If the latter were filled with 
all the fulness of God, the former cannot be. 
Nor can it be made otherwise, till our desires and 
eflTorts are turned into the same channel with 
theirs, and we take similar views of the necessity 
of being endued with power from on high, in 



THE HOLY GHOST. 217 

order to a successful prosecution of the work of 
Christian philanthropy. 

2. Confidence in the attainableness of this 
diviiie fulness^ is necessary to our enjoying it. 
According to thy faith, so be it done unto thee, 
is a rule which our Saviour has himself estab- 
lished. To him that believeth all things are 
possible. So long as a doubt lingers in our 
minds, as to the possibility of our enjoying any 
special fulness of the Holy Spirit, we never shall 
enjoy it. To obviate such doubts, therefore, God 
has centered more promises to this point, than to 
almost any other. '' If a son shall ask k'ead of 
any of you that is a father, will he give him a 
stqne ? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give 
him a serpent ? or if he shall ask an egg^ will 
he offer him a scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your chil- 
dren : how much more shall your heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
him? Here, you see, the blessing which God is 
so much more willing to bestow on his suppliant 
children, than we are bread upon our starving 
families, is neither temporal good, nor the happi- 
ness of heaven; but the Holy Spirit for our per- 
sonal sanctification, and to arm us for extending 
the philanthropic conquests of Immanuel. Hav- 
ing touched this point, we must leave the reader 

to search out the vast number of promises and 
19 



218 THE BAPTISM OF 

predictions, both in the Old and New Testaments, 
which cluster around the believer, to give confi- 
dence and intensity to him in seeking such a ful- 
ness of the Spirit, as will enable him to get out 
of self and into God. 

3. To succeed, we must seek this blessing 
with our whole heart. When Christians have 
their minds enlarged, by contemplating the prom- 
ises and acquainting themselves with the con- 
spicuous position which the Scriptures assign to 
the work of the Spirit, in the plan of redemp- 
tion, and when they lay themselves on God's 
altar determined to die there, rather than not 
succeed in obtaining the blessing, then God will 
pour it out upon them to a degree, that th^re 
shall not be room to receive it. 

It was thus that the church in Jerusalem ob- 
tained the baptism of the Holy Ghost. For 
fifty days, especially the last ten of them, they 
all continued with one accord in prayer and sup- 
plication, with the women, and Mary the mother 
of Jesus and with his brethren. Cornelius 
and his household received the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, during the four days which they 
had devoted to fasting and prayer. Saul of 
Tarsus struggled through three days of agony 
and blindness, after his conversion, before he 
obtained the blessing. These examples may 
teach us what kind of praying, how earnest, 



THE HOLY GHOST. 219 

how determined, how self-sacrificing, is neces- 
sary to the enjoyment of this heavenly fulness. 
O that all Christians and ministers felt this ! 
O that one mighty feeling of prayer, were going 
up from all the redeemed, that God by his Spirit 
would come in and sup with them and they with 
him. 

4. This blessing must be sought by self-de- 
nial. We must be emptied of self, in order to 
be filled with God. Our style of living must be 
on the simplest possible scale, and our worldly 
gratifications must be brought within limits so 
narrow, that at least we shall not set our hearts 
upon them. This will leave us more of our in- 
come to exercise upon charity, more of our time 
to give to meditation, more of our thoughts and 
sympathies for prayer ; and in this way we shall 
acquire that deadness to the world and life to 
God, which was so conspicuous a feature of our 
Saviour's character. the joy of dying to self 
and living to benevolence, and of being crucified 
with Christ, so that it shall not be we that live, 
but Christ that shall live in us ! Our Saviour 
and his apostles have given us an illustrious ex- 
ample of self-denial, in the work of benevolence. 
Though rich, for our sakes he became poor, that 
we through his poverty might be rich. The 
apostles, also, gave up the endearments of home, 



220 



THE BAPTISM OF 



relinquished their prospects of worldly prefer- 
ment, and became the reputed offscouring of all 
things, in furtherance of God's designs of mercy 
to man. In the footsteps of these illustrious ex- 
amples, therefore, we must follow, if we would 
enjoy the divine fulness. 

Whitefield was conducted to the blessing 
through a painful process of self-denial. He 
fasted himself sick, and denied himself in dress 
to such a degree, that the young nobleman who 
gave him a certain amount at the University for 
personal services, dismissed him for shame of so 
shabby a groom. And, though all this was done 
in a legal spirit, and without clear views of a sal- 
vation by grace, yet it indicated his extreme 
earnestness after heavenly blessings ; and, in 
answer to his self-denying seekings, God poured 
out upon him such a measure of his Spirit, be- 
fore he took " holy orders," thai under his first 
sermon, the whole congregation was moved, and 
the Lord gave demonstration to his word with 
signs following. Thus, by exercising ourselves 
unto holiness, through the practice of self-denial, 
we shall obtain a blessing proportioned to our 
seeking. 

5. Wilful sinning must be given up, if we 
would be honored with the Spirit's indwelling. 
For a Christian to make his belief, that no one 



THE HOLY GHOST. 221 

can arrive at perfection in this world, an occa- 
sion for intending to go on in this, that or the 
other course of wrong feeling or wrong doing, 
is to jeopard his prospects of salvation. No; 
there is no known sin that we must not strive 
even unto the death, to have annihilated from 
our characters. What, shall we deliberately 
carry daggers in our bosom, with which to stab 
that Saviour who has died to redeem us from 
all iniquity ? While we are doing this, how 
can we enjoy a baptism of the Holy Spirit? 

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? 
If any man defile the temple of God, him 
shall God destroy. What a thought is this ! 
Thy body a temple of the Holy Ghost ! And 
shall I pollute it with sin ? Shall I grieve, 
quench, and resist my heavenly Comforter, my 
indwelling Sanctifier ? Will he dwell in a cor- 
rupted temple, or lend himself to an unholy 
companionship ? Can the love of God coexist 
with cherished selfishness ? To have this di- 
vine fulness, must we not calculate to give up 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting 
holiness in the fear of the Lord ? And, when 
we fail so to do, through the weakness of our 
natures, or the power of our temptations, must 
we not, with deep repentance, lay our cause be- 
fore our supreme Advocate with the Father, 
19* 



222 THE BAPTISBl OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

Jesus Christ the righteous, and beseech him to 
so cleanse us from our secret fauhs, that the 
Holy Spirit may still continue his abode in our 
souls ? Cast me not away from thy presence 
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. 



CHAPTER XV. 

V 
OJff ANALYZING AND COMBINING THE ELEMENTS 
foF A REVIVAL. INTERNAL ELEMENTS. 

In this, as in other subjects, analysis will doubt- 
less be found a direct road to truth and to power. 
That it must stop with the surface of knowl- 
edge, as applied to the operations of that 
Agent who is like the unseen wind, is no ob- 
jection against using it, because the result is 
the same in all matters of investigation. The 
properties, not the substance or interior nature 
of things, are alone cognizable to philosophy. 

In the subject before us, the question is what 
elements or things are present on those occa- 
sions, when the moral power of the church is in 
a train of most successful exercise ? When we 
have found out what these things are, we shall 
be able to judge, whether they are within the 
reach of Christians, at times and in places, 
when and where this power is not at present in 
a course of successful exercise. It is by analy- 
sis, that the apothecary ascertains how to com- 



224 INTERNAL ELEMENTS 

bine the ingredients of a given medicine. So, 
as a genuine revival of religion is the form 
which the moral and social elements assume, when 
God is shining out of Zion the perfection of beauty, 
we must look at the component elements of such 
a gracious visitation, in order to learn the art of 
ensuring their presence in places where they do 
not now exist. Our attempt in a department 
like this, especially in the narrow limits of a 
concluding chapter, must necessarily be exceed- 
ingly imperfect. 

It seems a little singular that the manifesta- 
tions of human nature in this department should 
have been nearly two thousand years, a matter 
of history, without eliciting more in the shape 
of dispassionate philosophic inquiry concerning 
them. Much as has been written on the mani- 
festations of the intellect and the moral senti- 
ments, the higher qualities of the spiritual na- 
ture, in their manifestations as connected with 
revivals, have rarely been approached by the 
scrutinies of investigation. Those powerful ex- 
citements, connected with the triumph of these 
qualities over all grosser passions and interests, 
seem to be ranked with witchcraft, as unfit to 
trespass on the precincts of science. And yet 
who can compute the magnitude of the blessing 
accruing from such occasions ? The drunkard 
forsakes his cups, the profane exchange their 



OF A REVIVAL. 225 

oaths for prayers, the Bible succeeds to the ro- 
mance as the -book of delightful entertainment, 
while either the agony of guilt, the fear of hell 
and horrors of despair blacken the features ; or, 
the joys of pardon, love and immortal hope beat 
in every heart or beam in every face. It is true 
that Edwards and others have given more or 
less attention to this subject. 

By scrutinizing the things that go to make up 
a revival, we shall find them internal and exter- 
nal^ relating to the state of the affections, or to 
outward conduct and measures. 

The internal^ or a revival state of the affec- 
tions, is that which arises from the fulness of 
the Holy Spirit. Those excitements, of which 
there are many, that spring up without this ful- 
ness, are mere imitations, which, however they 
may deceive at the time, leave no permanent 
blessing behind. They arise from the pride of 
distinction, from a competition of numbers be- 
tween different churches, or from some acciden- 
tal cause of excitement, that spends its force 
without probing the heart to the bottom, or an- 
nihilating its cherished corruptions. Hence, no 
permanent blessing is left behind. Christians are 
not improved in the arts of holy living, the 
repentance that for the moment produced such 
contortions, needs to be repented of, and the 
converts, in the end, become seven fold more 



226 INTERNAL ELEBIENTS 

the children of hell than they were before. 
Nor can any thing make it otherwise, till those 
who are active in the work are so purged from 
their old sins that the Holy Spirit can take up 
his undisturbed abode in their hearts. 

1. Among the manifestations of the Spirit, 
on such occasions, that of a passion for conver- 
sions to holiness, holds a conspicuous place. 
Without a desire for the salvation of souls, 
amounting to an absorbing and all controlling 
passion, there can be no genuine revival. It is 
this that awakens the agony of prayer, denoted 
by the expressive figure of travailing pains in 
Zion, and travailing in birth for souls till Christ 
be formed in them. 

As to how this feeling was awakened, whether 
by means of an alarming death, by fifty days 
praying as in the Church at Jerusalem, or by 
other instrumentalities, provided only the thing 
exist in its depth and its genuineness, is quite 
immaterial. Measures are not the things to be 
controverted, so much as the spirit w4th Avhich 
we embark in them. There are a thousand spe- 
cific varieties in them, some of which might be 
more successful on one occasion, and some on 
another. For Christians, therefore, to waste their 
efforts in contending about them, •is as irrational 
as for the divisions of a victorious army, to em- 
bark in a war among themselves, because the 



OF A REVIVAL. 227 

victory was not achieved by the sword or the 
bayonet, the musketry or the cannon, or by other 
modes of warfare, that happened to be favorites 
with each. The question is not, hoio a commu- 
nity came by this absorbing sense of the necessity 
of conversion from sin to holiness, but simply 
whether it actually exists among them. 

Now, this passion was a predominant influence 
with Jesus and his inspired apostles. They pre- 
sumed not to touch the civil relations of their 
converts ; but taught them subjection to forms of 
government of the most oppressive character, 
from which too, their own devotion to the public 
weal was requited with naught but oppression 
and cruelty. They even soothed their feelings 
to the patient endurance of so unnatural a condi- 
tion as that of slavery, teaching them that they 
might still be Christ's freemen. The peculiar 
work of enthroning God in the' affections, to 
which they exclusively devoted themselves, could 
be accomplished in the most unjust and oppres- 
sive forms of civil and social life, not less than 
in those which embodied more righteous and 
benignant principles. And where collision with 
the powers that be was unavoidable, they had no 
other means of achieving the victories of truth, 
than that of yielding themselves unresisting vic- 
tims to the public indignation. 

While others cry lo here, this domestic abuse 



228 INTERNAL ELEMENTS 

must be corrected ; or lo there, that political evil 
must be reformed ; or this ignorance must be 
dispelled by the emitted rays of science ; and 
thus, while a thousand specific reforms are clam- 
orously urged, those who fully enter into the 
evangelical spirit, feel themselves committed to 
the single object of converting men from sin to 
holiness. They deem that imparting to the ig- 
norant a well regulated conscience, corrected esti- 
mates of moral and religious subjects and the 
various features of the new man in Christ, will 
accomplish upon them all that can be desired in 
the present world besides raising them to the re- 
wards of everlasting life. They trace all the 
branches of evil that spread their pernicious lux- 
uriance over the human condition, to the debase- 
ment of the spiritual affections, and believe that 
by cutting off the sources whence their nourish- 
ment comes, the whole must die. 

This is the philosophy of all revival feeling. 
The perfect simplicity of its aim might do much, 
even apart from Divine influence, to explain the 
mystery of its efficiency. Its object, in addition 
to being one and identical, has the merit of con- 
trolling the whole mass of facts with which it 
stands connected. Every thing is right or wrong 
with a man, according as his heart is right or 
wrong in the sight of God. Conversion to holi- 
.ness sets the internal powers right, and of course, 



aF A REVIVAL, 229 

extends its influence to all the outward develop-' 
.ments of the man. It corrects the views of reli- 
.gion ; it subdues the appetites and passions ; it 
improves the social feelings ; it leads to the due 
^exercise of the bodily appetites and faculties ; it 
brings the purest joy, gives the most invincible 
courage under suffering, and produces an abound- 
ing in hope through the power of the Holy 
Ghostv 

Who does not see in such a change, reasons 
for all the interest to accomplish it, which is ever 
felt under the most enthusiastic impulses of the 
revival influence? The absence of this interest 
is always occasioned by an abatement of spiritual 
.religion. The value of the soul, its exposure to 
an endless hell, the glory of Christ, and the ne- 
cessity of faith in him, in order to salvation, are 
all lost sight of; and of course, sermons, prayers, 
and every means of grace lose their power over 
the conscience. Whatever abates this interest, 
therefore, though in the form of an angel of light, 
must be odious in God's account, because it is 
adverse to the enthroning of his Son on this foot- 
stool. And one of the most alarming features" 
of our enterprises for bringing public sentiment 
to bear upon the overthrow of existing evils, is 
the extent to which they are Vy-ithdrawing the 
sympathy of Christians from the conversion of 

sinners. 

20 



230 INTERNAL ELEMENTS 

Life is so short, eternity so long, and the judg- 
ment seat so near, that it is better to submit to 
some abuses in the forms of society, provided the 
sou] can be saved, than in our attempts to rectify 
them, leave it to perish forever in hell. So far 
as these abuses are an obstruction to our object, 
(and I have no doubt they are so to an enormous 
extent,) Christians may labor for their rem.oval. 
But in this, the great end of saving the soul, must 
not for one momer^ retire behind the scene. And 
in our union with carnal men for objects of social 
or civil reform, are we not compelled to keep this 
real end of our living, out of view ? The carnal 
man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of 
God ; neither can he know them because they 
are spiritually discerned. 

2. Another internal element of a revival, is 
an implicit resting on revealed truths. Such a 
belief of these truths as the Spirit begets in us, 
gives them a substance in our minds and invests 
them with reality, the same as those things which 
we see, hear and converse with through the 
senses. We feel that God is in us and all around 
us. A sudden death cannot occur in a commu- 
nity, without leaving the impression upon all who 
have this faith, that God has ordered it to arouse 
the people from their dreams of sin to attend to 
their souls' concerns. And under this impres- 
sion, they will do their utmost for the awakening 



OF A REVIVAL. 231^ 

of survivors. They will say to tliem, " God is 
here ; see how he admonishes you. He is say- 
ing to you in tones of power, be ye also ready. 
A soul has just winged his flight to eternity. His 
destiny within the last hour, day, week, is fixed, 
and heaven or hell is his portion. Except ye re- 
pent, ye shall all likewise perish." There must 
be no fiction in such language — no attempt to 
treat these judgments as from God when the 
heart does not feel it ; for this would only expose 
us to the rebuff' of the evil spirit, " Paul we 
know, and Jesus we know ; but who are ye ?" 

Did ever a revival occur among a people, when 
this intimate and solemn connexion with God, 
was not a serious and awful reality to more or 
less of their number ? Sinners themselves, even 
the most obdurate among them, though destitute 
of this faith, feel the influence through sympathy 
or some other principle, and a solemn sense of 
God comes over them. They feel themselves 
penetrated through and through with the eyes of 
his justice and holiness. Every rock, tree, for- 
est, flying cloud, and the whole visible scenery, 
in the place where the revival occurred, seem to 
those who are conscious of the influence, to be 
full of God. And so powerful is the impression, 
that if they were to return to the place after being 
many years absent, the circumstances of that re- 
vival would be recalled with more distinctness, 



^32 INTERNAL ELEMENTS 

than any other fact of their experience while 
they resided there. 

And who will say that this impression of being 
•surrounded with God is a fictitious sentiment? 
Is it not justified by every page of the Bible ? 
Are not the instincts of the Divine existence, of 
right and ^vrong, and of immortality, these spirit - 
uail and retributive elements of our constitution, 
given us for the purpose of maintaining it in our 
souls ? God would not have a moment of con- 
sciousness pass with us, without this sense of in- 
timate and constant connexion with Himself. 
And hence his grace teaches us, that whether we 
eat or drink or whatever we do, to do all to the 
glory of God. O, this is blessed living, to feel 
that we are always with God. Nothing bat sin 
has deprived us of this feelin^g. It has blinded 
our spiritual discernment, so that in the midst of 
a universe of mementos to God's presence and 
glorious attributes, we are stupidly insensible of 
them. And this erasure of the impression of 
God from our souls, is a more dreadful indication 
of our depravity, than even robbery, theft and 
murder. And no return to holiness can be effect- 
ed, 1X0 revival can exist which will not eventuate 
in still deeper and deeper spiritual darkness, till 
the sentiment of a present God is again restored. 

The interference of the devil, also, in the af- 
fairs of men, is a reality with those who have 



OF A REVIVAL. 233^ 

this faith. Though unperceived by their bodily- 
senses, his presence, in their view, is as real and 
substantial as the invisible malaria that engen- 
ders disease, or the malignant infusion that prop- 
agates contagion. So long as Christians resolve 
their conflicts with the devil into a war of oppos- 
ing principles, as of heat and cold or of darkness 
and light, they are too fleshly, too remote from 
the spiritual world to have a revival. Their 
faith is not that which gives substance to unseen 
truth. Did you ever know a revival to exist 
among those who denied to the devil a personal 
existence ? No ; such men have not implicit re- 
liance upon God's word. They can realize 
nothing till they have passed it through the 
alembic of materialism. They do not accept 
the statements of the Bible on this subject in 
their simple plain ^ense, but mystify, distort 
and explain them away to suit them to their 
gross conceptions. Satan instigating the first 
sin ; satan assembling with the sons of God in 
the days of Job ; satan provoking David to num- 
ber the people ; satan tempting our Lord in the 
wilderness ; satan instigating Judas' treachery ; 
satan filling the heart of Ananias and Sapphira 
to lie to the Holy Ghost ; satan desiring to have. 
Peter that he might sift him as wheat ; satan, of 
whose devices the apostle says Christians are 
not ignorant ; must all be reduced to poetry and 
20* 



234 INTERNAL ELEMENTS 

allegory, before they can be accepted by these 
fleshly believers in revelation. How then can 
God honor virith revivals those who thus dis- 
honor his word ? 

Are not all who have been greatly distinguish- 
ed as revivalists, been remarkable for their literal 
acceptation of the Bible on this subject? Who 
was ever more sensible of being harassed by 
the devil, than John Bunyan? and who ever 
preached the word with more awakening effects ? 
The splendid eloquence of Robert Hall had no 
power to move the spiritual sentiments, compared 
with that of the honest tinker. Luther, also, 
and Knox and Whitefield and Wesley were as 
remarkable for their conflicts with the devil, as 
for their transcendent power in revivals. And 
the same is true to this day. Whenever such a 
work is in progress among a people, they are 
always sensible to the counterworking of satanic 
agency. If we have not faith enough to literal- 
ly accept God's word on this subject, we have 
not enough for a revival. 

When we have this faith, how real it will 
appear to us, that the impenitent are sinking to 
hell by hundreds and thousands ! What energy 
will it impart to our exertions for pulling them 
out of the fire ! What confidence shall we have 
in the electing love of God, and the certainty 
that the preaching of Christ and him crucified, 



OF A REVIVAL. 235 

will turn to the salvation of some of them ! 
We know that Christ must see the travail of his 
soul, and that the means which he has appointed 
for this purpose, must prove effectual. They 
cannot fail of being the power of God unto sal- 
vation. We take firm hold on the promise, that 
the heathen shall be given to him for an inheri- 
tance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a 
possession. We rest upon the omnipotence of 
God's revealed truth over the spiritual elements 
of man's nature, and are sure that his word can- 
not return to him void. Hence, we speak with 
authority, like men that expect to be believed. 

How real, also, is the crucifixion of Christ to 
us ! Never can the writer of these pages lose 
the first impression upon his mind of this great 
central fact in the history of redemption. It 
came like a note from eternity, a note of infinite 
love ; the adorable Lamb of God dying that he 
might live ! And is not this the experience of 
all who have tasted the good word of God? 
How much force is there in that language of 
Paul to the Galatian converts, Before ivhose eyes 
Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, cruci- 
fied among you. Though many miles from the 
scene of the crucifixion, and not hearing of it 
till long after it took place ; yet their faith made 
it as real as an event passing under the observa- 
tion of the senses. How many millions have 



236 INTERNAL ELEMENTS, ETC. 

had a like view of Christ upon the cross, a view 
that had all the effect of an event in which they 
had a personal interest ! Yea, seeing the cruci- 
fixion with the bodily eyes, apart from the faith 
to take in its spiritual connexions, could do no 
more for us, than it did for those who actually 
surrounded his cross. It is the faith that takes 
in these connexions, that gives the crucifixion its 
vast influence in the spiritual world. It makes 
those who have it, feel that they have been guilty 
of the body and blood of the Lord. Nor is it 
possible for a revival to exist in a community 
where this feeling does not to some extent pre- 
vail. The church and its minister must have 
their hearts melted to tenderness in view of the 
cross ; sinners must thence derive the repent- 
ance that needeth not to be repented of; and the 
burdened soul must thither come, before he can 
realize the joys of pardon and immortal hope. 
Now, the same arguments that go to show that 
Christians may, at any and all times, be filled 
with the Holy Spirit, go also to prove that they 
may combine the internal elements of a revival ; 
for the latter arise from the former. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



ON ANALYZING AND COMBINING THE ELEBIENTS 

OF A REVIVAL. EXTERNAL MANIFESTATIONS 

OF SUCH A WORK. CONCLUSION. 

Having seen the state of mind necessary to ena- 
ble an individual or individuals to propagate re- 
vival influences in a community, we come now 
to notice its outward developments. Here we 
suppose there is latitude for endless variety to 
suit the social habits, mental culture and moral 
tone of a people. To adopt in all cases the 
same mode of procedure, is like a general, under 
all circumstances, disposing his forces in the 
same order of battle. Whether protracted meet- 
ings and evangelists, for instance, should or 
should not be admitted, is not a subject for con- 
troversy. God decides that question by the dif- 
ferent kind of men whom he brings into the 
ministry. If an individual who is altogether 
deserving of confidence for his piety and devo- 
tion to the work of the Lord, can do more as an 
evangelist, or in protracted meetings, what are 



238 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

we, that we should withstand God ? We ought 
to be thankful, that one brother can work best in 
one way and another in another ; because by di- 
versifying the modes of applying truth, we reach 
the more minds. 

For brethren to set up that their modes of op- 
erating shall not be departed from, is in most 
cases, we fear, the fruit of bigotry and narrow 
views. Let me ask these brethren, how ancient 
is this way for which you are so earnest ? Would 
it not have been as great a novelty, one or two 
generations ago, as a protracted meeting or an 
evangelist can be to you ? But we propose to 
confine ourselves to those features of a revival, 
in which all who believe in these gracious visita- 
tions will be likely to concur. They are such 
as dealing in appropriate truth — using common 
language — taking advantage of the animal sym- 
pathies — adjusting our measures to existing re- 
ligious impressions — continuity of appeal — va- 
riety of means — consecutive influences — and 
harmony of feeling among those engaged in the 
work. 

1. Dealmg in appropriate truth. Selfish- 
ness is the predominant influence in that commu- 
nity where no revival exists. Piety has been 
succeeded by worldliness, and carelessness to the 
interests of the soul prevails on every hand. 
No matter, therefore, what social virtues may 



OF A REVIVAL. 239 

exist among the people, they are practiced with- 
out regard to God, and, of course, from some 
principle of selfishness that must incur the di- 
vine displeasure and bring on the eternal ruin of 
the soul. Now, suppose Paul were to exercise 
the ministry of reconciliation ^mong them, 
how would he discharge its duties ? Would he 
preach about things in general ? No ; he would 
say to himself, " Every thing among this people 
is the opposite of holiness, and they are conscious 
neither of the fact nor of the danger to which it 
is exposing them. And my business is to unfold 
truths to their view that will burn on their con- 
sciences, excite their fears, arouse their sensi- 
bilities, and bring them, in the attitude of suppli- 
ants, to the feet of sovereign mercy." 

By a careful analysis of the influences present 
in revivals, it will be found that accurate pic- 
tures of the secret working of human depravity, 
as connected with its tendency to end in eternal 
death, have a conspicuous place. The more 
harrowing they are to the feelings of the impen- 
itent, the more likely they are to succeed, pro- 
vided they are presented with love and a sincere 
desire for their salvation. For nothing is Pe- 
ter's sermon on the day of Pentecost so remark- 
able, as this appropriateness to these depraved 
elements of character in his hearers. The ex- 
cellence and glory of the Son of God, as evinced 



240 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

by his miracles, he held up in contrast with 
their malignity in putting him to death. , His 
triumphant resurrection he declared, as a proof 
of the impotence of their malice in endeavoring 
to destroy His claims to Messiahship. He called 
in the facts of the Spirit's power, then passing 
before their eyes, to give point to his argument, 
that those who dared resist the influence of the 
injured Messiah, would become his footstool to 
be crushed by his avenging power. Thus, he 
insisted upon the contrast between His excellence 
and their vileness, concluding the whole with the 
harrowinof deduction, " therefore let all the house 
of Israel know assuredly, that God has made 
this Jesus whom ye crucified^ both Lord and 
Christ.^'' As the discourse of Peter was framed 
to awaken a sense of guilt, or to prick his' hear- 
ers in the heart, so in all cases, our exhibitions of 
truth must be suited to the same end, or they 
never can be effectual in promoting revivals. 

2. By reference to facts, also, we shall see 
that a plain and siinple style of address has 
much to do with the influence on revival occa- 
sions. The fulness of the Holy Spirit gives a 
simplicity and earnestness, that find expression 
in such words and figures as a.re best suited to 
the mass of mind. The effort after classic ele- 
gance in speaking, is abhorrent to one whose 



OF A KEVIVAL. 241 

heart is full of love to sinners, and who is in- 
tent upon nothing so much as pulling them out 
of the fire. Besides, common language is best 
understood, and therefore, the most effectual ve- 
hide of thought. An idea that stands out to the 
hearer's view in all its native proportions, will 
leave a stronger impression, than one whose out- 
lines are murky and confused. The most of 
hearers, after a short chase of the fugitive con- 
ception, give it up and content themselves with 
calling the discourse elegant, profound, argumen- 
tative, to hide their own incapacity to under- 
stand what they are bound to believe is full of 
meaning. The real state of the case, however, 
appears from this, that those discourses which 
the hearers carry home with them are destitute 
of the foregoing characteristics, being simple, 
plain and common in their language and allu^ 
sions. 

Indeed, the superiority of common language, is 
shown by apostolic example. The first preach- 
ers spake and wrote, not in the ornate style of 
Homer, Xenophon and Thucydides, but in the 
provincial Greek of the countries overrun by the 
arms of that martial people. And Paul express- 
ly states, that Christ sent him to preach the gos- 
pel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of 

Christ should be of none effect. He asjired to 

21 



242 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

speak plain truth in plain language, that the 
faith of the converts might not stand in the wis- 
dom of men, but in the power of God. 

3. The animal sympathies will be found to 
have their share of influence in revivals. This 
subject is so little understood, that we often hear 
it said, in praise of certain ministers and mea- 
sures, that they are free from animal excitement. 
It is deemed by some the perfection of preach- 
ing to have it purely intellectual, leaving the 
sympathies untouched, that thus truth may leave 
its results upon the character, like the image on 
the innermost coat of the eye, in the deepest re- 
cesses of mental abstraction. Propositions are 
stated as coolly and with as much accuracy, as if 
the preacher were working out a problem in 
numbers, the language is highly polished, and 
thus the whole performance goes on as dryly as 
if it were designed to personate the tenants of a 
catacomb. 

But is this mode of doing things scriptural ? 
does it accord to the nature of man ? is it the 
true secret of moral power ? It is, indeed, con- 
ceded by most, that such is not the method for 
influencing the mass of uneducated and unpol- 
ished mind. They are supposed to need some- 
thing less intellectual and more exciting. But is 
it not so in all cases ? Can the mind, in its pres- 
ent state, attain to such a decree of abstraction 



OF A REVIVAL. 243 

from the bodily sensations, as to admit of its be- 
ing influenced, except as it is approached through 
these physical channels ? Can we assail it with- 
out animal excitation ? Are not sounds exciting 
to the ear, gustable properties to the palate, odors 
to the nostrils ; and are not our nervous organs 
as a whole, soothed and quieted by certain modes 
of treatment, while they are thrown into disorder 
by others? Do not our primary ideas of har- 
mony and discord, of beauty and deformity, of 
pleasure and disgust, and of desire and aversion, 
come from these sensible impressions ? 

That the perfection of our means for bringing 
men to think upon their souls' concerns, there- 
fore, should consist in having them as remote as 
possible from their tendencies to physical exci- 
tation, does seem to me a contradiction to the 
plainest laws of our nature. What, thoughts 
drawn from the pure region of abstraction, and 
infused into the soul without jostling a fibre of 
the animal frame, the ones to be the most effect- 
ual in controlling our voluntary decisions ! Such 
is not the course of statesmen, orators, and those 
whose business it is to wield a people. In addi- 
tion to the mottos, songs, processions, popular 
harangues, and every device of the kind, to as- 
sail the public mind through all its physical 
channels of communication, is the imagery of 
their discourses, all the parts of which are nicely 



244 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

suited to produce the highest order of animal ex- 
citement. Heat and cold, haggard want and un- 
bounded profusion, pleasure and pain, and every 
thing associated with our outward condition, are 
continually appealed to, to give meaning and 
force to the great principles of state, which they 
are desirous of making the law of the land. 

And no book does more to touch our earthly 
sympathies than the Bible itself. The torments 
of a spiritual and unseen world are depicted to 
us under the idea of burning men alive in a lake 
of fire and brimstone. Heaven, also, is painted 
to our view, in all the gorgeousness and splen- 
dor of the palace and capital with which a pow- 
erful earthly monarch would encircle himself. 
Its inhabitants are kings and priests, wearing 
princely crowns and sacerdotal robes, having 
palms of victory in their hands, and being freed 
from all crying and tears. Does such imagery 
look like esteeming it the perfection of religious 
efficiency, to have our appeals to the mind as re- 
mote as possible from the animal sensations? 
■Are not the substantial facts of the gospel adapt- 
ed to arouse these sensations ? How should not 
even the body of the sinner quake at seeing 
himself standing over a burning hell ? Or sup- 
pose a bleeding Saviour came up distinctly to his 
view, accompanied by the vivid impression, that 
he himself had inflicted the wounds of that gorr 



OF A REVIVAL. '245 

•body, and he should cry out in an agony of emo- 
tion, who could impute it to him as a weakness ? 
It is only when the basis of such excitements is 
fictitious, that they are inadmissible. Let them 
result from a lively view of momentous truth, 
and the very stones would cry out, if Ave should 
suppress them. 

4. Adjusting our measures to eicisting reli- 
gious impressions. As in the most wintry sea- 
son there is sufficient caloric among the material 
•elements, when condensed to a point, to produce 
combustion, so there is no period in the moral his- 
tory of a community so indifferent, infidel and 
depraved, but that a due application of God's ap- 
pointed means would not result in a revival of 
greater or less extent. The secret workings of 
conscience among the people, the dissatisfaction 
which they feel with their present amount of 
happiness, the forebodings of death and a coming 
judgment, the disappointments and vexations of 
life, and the elements of religious knowledge 
and impression existing among them, all consti- 
tute a train that could not fail to explode by a 
due adjustment of celestial truth. The burning 
zeal of Paul, the intrepid courage of Luther in 
assaulting the powers of sin, and the indomitable 
industry of Baxter, could be brought to bear upon 
scarce a community in our land, without being 
followed by revival influences. 



246 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

Not only is man endowed with religious in- 
stincts, but in his darkest and most degraded 
condition, he has some means for their develop- 
ments The impressions which he receives from 
the sensible universe constitute a basis for reli- 
gious reasoning and appeal, whose importance to 
the preacher of the gospel cannot be duly esti- 
mated. Especially in the absence of science and 
civilization, from which untold millions are suf- 
fering who equally need the blessings of salva- 
tion, they constitute the only materials for begin- 
ning his work. In making known to them the- 
being and perfections of Him who has made all 
these things, he has to avail himself of their 
breath and being ; of their bodily organization, 
with all its parts and adaptations ; of the trees,, 
plants and every tenant of the vegetable king- 
dom ; of the swarming myriads of life with which 
earth, air and ocean abound. Such was Paul's 
mode of addressing the pagan mind. We preach 
unto you, that ye should turn from these idol 
vanities unto the living God, who made heaven 
and earth, and the sea and all that are therein ; 
who in times suffered all nations to walk in, their 
own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself 
without witness, in that he did good, and gave 
us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling 
our hearts with food and gladness. To the 
learned and curious Athenians, also, who were 



OF A REVIVAL. 247 

addicted to the study of nature, philosophy and 
poetry, he incorporated similar allusions, with 
additional fragments of truth from the shrines at 
which they paid their devotions, and from the 
sweet numbers of their admired poets ; thus 
adroitly grafting the doctrine of Jesus and the 
resurrection, upon the actual habitudes and ma- 
terials of their thinking. 

And the course of providence is ever more im- 
pressive of religious truth than the constitution 
of nature. But for the continual restraints 
which we undergo, from our physical necessi- 
ties, from our numerous disappointments of cher- 
ished hope, from those diseases and accidents 
which are our certain passport to the grave, from 
the collisions of man with man, and from ten 
thousand other sources of anxiety and distress, 
too subtle for a name and too multiform for des- 
cription, — but for all these interminglings of ca- 
lamity in our experience here below, poor in- 
deed would be our prospect of winning any 
heart to the love of God. By these various 
means, God is working to abase pride, to exhibit 
the emptiness of the world, and to soften the 
hearts of the children of men, that they may 
be the better prepared to receive from the hands 
of his church, the good seed of the kingdom. 
And we rhust avail ourselves of the advantages 
thus afforded us. We must watch our opportu- 



248 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

nities of speaking words in season to the sick, 
the bereaved, and the self condemned ; and we 
must studiously graft our communications of 
heavenly truth upon the present contents of dif- 
ferent minds. Thus, we must watch for souls as 
those that must give account. 

5, Continuity of appeal. However a revival 
may commence, it never fails of being attended 
by unusual frequency in the applications of truth 
to the mind. If the impression of one faithful 
sermon be followed by another and another, in 
a succession too rapid for the extinction of a 
single impression in the series, how could truth 
and conscience fail to secure a triumph over pas- 
sion and cupidity ? 

Now, one circumstance that gives a revival 
such commanding influence, is this continuity in 
urging one impression after another till the baser 
feelings give way under the pressure of eternal 
realities. No ingredient of heresy need be in- 
fused to produce this result, and no concealment 
of revealed doctrines can facilitate it. Their ef- 
fect would be, on the contrary, to defeat the ob- 
ject. Can poison assist the operation of a nu- 
tritive of aliment? Nothing does so much to 
restore the healthy action of our moral nature 
as the truth as it is in Jesus. Nothing burns 
with such power on conscience. 



OF A REVIVAL. 249 

6. Variety iii the means of applying truth. 
As soon as the revival impulse begins to act upon 
a people, to whatever instrumentality it may owe 
its origin, it not only gives new power to the or- 
dinary means of grace, but calls into exercise 
much that is extraordinary. Even common con- 
versation becomes now a powerful auxiliary in 
promoting the work of the Lord. On those oc- 
casions when mirth and laughter are prominent 
in all that is said and done, seriousness is now 
impressed on every countenance, and no subject 
is so much talked of as religion. One has to 
speak of the great goodness of God to him ; 
another of his joy of faith and comfort of love ; 
another of the preciousness of Christ to his soul ; 
another of his concern for poor perishing sin- 
ners ; others address themselves directly to the 
impenitent ; and thus the whole drift of the pass- 
ing scene is calculated to promote the work of 
the Lord. 

Such was the state of things in the revival at 
'Northampton, of which President Edwards gives 
an account. ^' In all companies in those days, on 
whatever occasion persons met together, Christ 
was to be heard of and seen in the midst of 
them. Our young people, when they met, were 
wont to spend the time in talking of the excel- 
lence and dying love of Christ, the gloriousness 
of the wav of salvation, the wonderful, free and 



250 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

sovereign grace of God, his glorious work in the 
conversion of a soul, the truth and certainty of 
the great things of God's v^ord, and the sweet- 
ness of their views of his perfections. And even 
at weddings, which formerly were merely occa^ 
sions of mirth and jollity, there was now no dis- 
course of any thing but things of religion, and 
no appearance of any hut spiritual mirth. '"^ 

Visiting from house to house to urge eternal 
truth on the attention of the people is usual on 
such occasions. Whether the number that feel 
the heavenly influence, be few or many, so great 
is their concern for souls, and so powerfully are 
they affected in view of the multitude who are 
perishing in sin, that they go from individual to 
individual to converse with them about their im^ 
mortal interests. They hunt for souls in the 
lurking places of the farm, the cottage, the shop, 
the store, and even in the mansions of the rich, 
that by all means they may save some. 

An impenitent individual can light upon no 
point where he does not meet with something to 
remind him of his need of religion, and to set 
death, judgment and eternity before his view. 
If he attends on the ministry of the word, he 
hears truths that powerfully assail his conscience ; 
if he goes to the prayer meeting, his soul is stir- 
red by fervent petitions in his behalf: if he 

* Edwards on Revivals, p. 40. 



OF A REVIVAL. 251 

walks by the way, he meets with some one to 
exhort him to flee from the wrath to come ; if he 
visits his neighbors, he finds them engaged in 
doing their utmost to carry forward the good 
work of the Lord ; if he retires to the open field 
or shady grove, the sound of secret supplication 
breaks upon his ears like a voice from eternity ; 
if he goes to his own dwelling, some friend 
meets him with tears and confessions, beseech- 
ing him to be reconciled to God ; and if he has 
a call, it is from some pious individual who has 
come to invite him to the inquiry meeting. 
Thus, it seems to him that heaven has posted its 
sentinels on every hand, and he cannot move, 
without having his way hedged up by barriers 
thrown by infinite mercy across his path to in- 
tercept his way to hell. Such a train of influ- 
ences is too powerful for the most obdurate to 
resist, while the guilty and the incorrigible 
speedily ripen into the sin against the Holy 
Ghost. Is it not by some such future combina- 
tion of influences, on a scale broad enough to 
embrace the world, that a nation is yet to be born 
in a day, and the kingdom and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, is to be 
given to the people of the saints of the most high 
God? 

7. Consecutive train of influences. As in 
medical treatment, the physician finds it necessa- 



252 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

ry, ill his progressive use of remedies, to keep 
pace with the several stages of his patient's dis- 
ease, so in the progress of a revival, each succes- 
sive effort must sustain and carry out the one 
that v^ent before. Who has not seen such a 
state of things among a people, that the most, 
elegant sermon ever preached, on an inappropri- 
ate and ill timed subject, would serve rather to 
repress than advance the work ? How should it 
not have this effect, if it did not meet the demands 
of that particular crisis ? The best performed 
music in the world would have a harsh and 
unpleasant effect at a funeral, if it were lively, 
boisterous and unsuited to express the mournful 
feelings of the occasion. 

Nor need any one impute art and contrivance 
to these hints, for they accord to fact and nature. 
The mind of a sinner, in a process of translation 
from darkness to light, has its attention fixed 
upon a given class of truths, adapted to produce 
in him given impressions ; and when those im- 
pressions are sufficiently matured, they lead on 
to other impressions, and those to others still, in 
a consecutive series. Intense thinking on awak- 
ening truth leads to intense feeling ; the sense 
of guilt to the hope of pardon ; the first faint 
dawn of such hope, advances to the perfect day 
pf assurance, crying Abba, Father ; and thus, 
" the goings forth " of God in the soul, " are pre- 



OF A REVIVAL. 253 

pared as the morning." Bat suppose something 
be thrown in, at the incipient stages of the pro- 
cess, that should effectually divert his attention 
from the truths necessary to keep it up, how 
could it fail to break the series of impressions ? 
Suppose it had been possible for a troop of mod- 
ern soldiers to set up a roar of artillery at the 
door of the temple, just as Peter had closed the 
exordium of his sermon on the day of pentecost, 
and just as the concourse began to feel the 
solemn influence, would not the shock to their 
unpractised ears have effectually interrupted 
that series of impressions which led to their con- 
version ? And if such a physical cause of di- 
version could do it, w^ould not the more subtle in- 
fusion of inappropriate thought, working its way 
to the secret sources of conduct, and drawing off 
the mind from the heavenly influence, do much 
more in the same way ? Suppose an actor like 
Garrick could have commanded the eyes and 
ears of that concourse, before Peter's sermon had 
wrought its full effect, dealing out upon their 
risible feelings the irresistible strokes of laugh- 
ing comedy, nothing short of miraculous inter- 
vention upon the laws of mind, could have with- 
stood its counteracting tendencies. 

The principle stated is too obvious to require 
further confirmation. Though the Holy Spirit 
is a powerful agent, he does not operate alike 
22 



254 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

through the channel of all instrumentalities. He 
would not be as likely to convert a man under 
infidel lectures, as under the preaching of the 
Cross. Now, none are so well qualified to enter 
into the existing state of things, during the pro- 
gres of a revival, as those who have been in it 
from the first. They have kept pace with its 
subtle phases of impressions and of course can 
best select and present measures and subjects 
adapted to every given crisis of the work. They 
acquire an instinctive power of distinguishing 
what is suitable, from what is unsuitable, both as 
to the matter and manner of their exhibitions 
and their proceedings. 

A living Christian, in whom the Holy Spirit 
dwells, will, indeed, require but a short training 
to be able to make these distinctions. His soul 
is already in the work, and he needs only a little 
time to ascertain the precise state of things among 
the people, to qualify him for going on with his 
brethren, as a helper of their joy and their tri- 
umph. As soon as Barnabas had come to Anti- 
och, and had seen the grace of God in that first 
of Gentile revivals, he rejoiced, and exhorted 
them that with purpose of heart, they would 
cleave unto the Lord. 

8. Harmony among those engaged in the 
work^ is also of great importance to a revival. 
" Being agreed as touching any thing we shall 



OF A REVIVAL. 255 

ask," is specially insisted upon by our Saviour, 
as a condition of the certain bestowment of the 
blessing desired. This was the state of the in- 
fant church at Jerusalem, at the first outpouring 
of the Spirit. They were all " loith one accord'''' 
in one place. They had been similarly trained 
under the personal influence of their Master ; 
had been common sharers in the scene of suffer- 
ing occasioned by his death ; had felt the same 
wonder and joy at his resurrection; had bewailed 
together their loneliness after his ascension ; had 
spent many days in mutual converse with each 
other and with God in prayer ; and thus their 
experience from first to last, had served to melt 
away their constitutional or educational diffe- 
rences, and to produce between them such a har- 
mony and accordance, as probably never existed 
between another equal number of individuals. 
And they appear to have always acted under the 
same impulse, and this was one of the instrumen- 
talities that contributed to their astonishing suc- 
cess. It was a union of heart to heart, and hand 
to hand, in the greatest enterprise that ever en- 
listed the powers of man — an enterprise of sal- 
vation to a perishing world. 

In order to take advantage of this principle to 
the fullest extent, they were parted into bands, in 
the organization of which, the particular tastes 
and aptitudes of the individuals in each, appear 



256 EXTERNAL ELEMENTS 

to have been consulted. Hence, while Paul 
could not so v/ell work with Mark, he could with 
Silas; and while Barnabas could not coalesce in 
all the views of Paul on questions of expediency, 
he could not with Mark, and so each band was 
made up of the individuals that adapted it to the 
greatest efficiency. And thus, the primitive 
laborers rarely if ever went alone to their work 
of evangelizing the nations. 

Perhaps Christians may hereafter avail them- 
selves, to a greater extent than they are doing it 
at present, of this feature of the apostolic plan. 
When our schisms come to give way to the coa- 
lescing spirit of approaching raillenium ; when 
bands of brethren shall really enjoy the fulness 
of the Holy Ghost to that degree, that carnal and 
selfish feelings are so consumed by the fire com- 
ing down from heaven as to make them see eye 
to eye and lift up their voices together ; and 
when we take full advantage of a concert of ac- 
tion in going from place to place in promoting 
the work of the Lord, v^rhat could resist the force 
of our arms ? The happy influence of the indi- 
viduals composing such bands, upon each other, 
like that of a number of live coals brought in 
contact, would enable them to resist the dampest, 
coldest atmosphere, and thus to preserve the revi- 
val influence, under circumstances too adverse 
for either of them to withstand alone. And with. 



OF A REVIVAL. 257 

this influence among themselves, its affinity to 
the moral elements even in the constitution of 
wicked men, is such, that they could scarcely 
remain among a people for any length of time, 
without propagating it, provided they embodied 
the requisite talents for commanding their atten- 
tion. Who can tell what is in the womb of the 
future, or what principles of efficiency may yet 
be called into requisition, in filling the whole 
earth with the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the deep ? 



CONCLUSION. 

Let every Christian ask himself, what element 
in this view of a revival, is beyond the reach of 
his faith. Can he not rely upon the promised 
fulness of the Holy Spirit ? And if he has that, 
will he not have the passion of conversions to 
holiness, the faith of realization, and all the inter- 
nal elements of those gracious visitations, when 
the moral power of the church is in successful 
exercise ? And having these, can we be at a loss 
for an appropriate outward manifestation ? Can 
we not adapt truth to the spiritual condition of 
those around us ? Can we not arrive at a simple 
plain style of speaking, on plain yet momentous 
22* 



258 CONCLUSION. 

subjects? Can we not adjust our measures to 
the animal sympathies ? Is a continuity of ap- 
peal, or variety in the modes of applying truth, 
beyond our reach ? Can we not, by prayer and 
a close walk with God, acquire such familiarity 
with the spiritual world, as to be skilful in bring- 
ing consecutive influences to bear upon a com- 
munity ? Is harmony or concentration, so uncon- 
genial to us, as not to admit of our forming evan- 
gelizing bands, to act more efficiently for the 
salvation of our perishing race ? 

Christian reader, these are questions of solemn 
moment — questions that involve the eternal desti- 
ny of unnumbered millions. O, how much ought 
we to pray over them, before dismissing them 
from our attention ! Prophecy presents a brighter 
prospect for the church in the vista of the future. 
And though we of the present generation, die in 
the wilderness of doubt and partial consecration, 
our Sunday schools, our missions, our revivals, 
and innumerable influences, are concurring, I 
trust, to bring on the stage a phalanx of more 
robust and vigorous Christians, on whom the 
Holy Spirit will confer his largest gifts, that 
through their means the empire of righteousness 
and peace, may be fully established over the soul 
and the society of man. 



TO THE F RIENDS OF M ISSIpNS. 

VALUABLE MISSTOXARY WORKS PUBLISHED BY 
GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN, 

BOSTON. 



THE GEEAT COMMISSION, 

Or the Christian Church constituted aad charged to conv^ey the gospel 
to the world. By the Rev. John Harris, D.D., author of 
"Mammon," "Great Teacher," &c., with an Intro- 
ductory Essay, by Wiliam R. Williams, D.D., 
of New York. Second Edition. 
12mo. cloth. 
!0=This work was written in consequence of the offer of a prize of 
two hundred guineas by several prominent individuals in Scotland for 
the best essay on " the duty, privilege, and encouragement of Chris- 
tians to send the gospel of salvation to the unenlightened nations of 
the earth." The adjudicators (David Welsh, Ralph Wardlaw, Henry 
Melville, Jabez Bunting, Thos. S. Crisp) state " that forty-two essays 
were received^ and after much deliberation, the essay of Dr. Harris 
was placed first. They were influenced in their decision by the 
sentiment, style, and comprehensiveness of the essay, and by the gen- 
eral adaptation to the avowed object of the prize. 

From the numerous and extended notices and reviews of the work, 
the following extracts are given to show the 

" OPINION OF THE PRESS." 

" This work comes forth in circumstances which give and promise 
extraordinary interest and value. Its general circulation will do much 
good." N. Y. Evangelist. 

"A work of great excellence, rich in thought and illustration of a 
subject to which the attention of thousands has been called by the 
word and providence of God." Philadelphia Observer. 

" The merits of the book entitle it to more than a prize of money. 
It constitutes a most powerful appeal on the subject of Missions." 

N. Y. Bap. Advocate. 

" Its style is remarkably chaste and elegant. Its sentiments richly 
and fervently evangelized, its argumentation conclusive." 

Zion^s Herald. 

" This is not the first prize essay by the same author. Those who 
have read the Great Teacher and Mammon, need no other recommen- 
dation to this." iV. Y. Observer. 

" It depicts in a forcible manner, the blessings which attend mission- 
ary efforts, and examines at length the objections which phave been 
urged against the establishment of missions." Mercantile journal. 

" We hope, that the volume will be attentively and prayerfully read 
by the whole Church, which are clothed with the " Great Commis- 
sion" to evangelize the world, and that they will be moved to an im- 
mediate discharge of its high and momentous obligations." 

iV. E. Puritan. 

" Of the several productions of Dr. Harris — all of them of great 
value — that now before us is destined probably to exert the most pow- 
erful influence in forming the religious and missionary character of 
coming generations. The vast fund of argument comprisedj in these 
pages will excite the admiration of thousands in our own^land as well 
as in Europe." Boston Recorder. 

1 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF MISSIONS ; 

A RECORD OF THE VOYAGES, TRAVELS, LABORS, AND SUCCESSES OF 
THE VARIOUS MISSIONARIES WHO HAVE BEEN SENT FORTH BY 
PROTESTANT SOCIETIES TO EVANGELIZE THE HEATHEN. COM- 
PILED FROM AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. FORMING A COMPLETE 

MISSIONARY REPOSITORY. 

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS FROM 
ORIGINAL DRAWINGS MADE EXPRESSLY FOR 
THIS WORK. BY REV. JOllN O. CHOULES, 
N. Y., AND REV. THOMAS SMITH, LON- 
DON. SIXTH EDITION, ENLARGED 
AND IMPROVED, IN TWO 
VOLUMES, QUARTO. 



The Publishers would invite the attention of all interested in the 
prosperity and success of Missions, to this valuable work. The pres- 
ent edition has been improved and enlarged by a continuation of the 
work down to the present time. It will be seen, by reference to the 
recommendatory notices annexed, from prominent men of the various 
denominations, that it is free from all sectarian bias, and us such is en- 
titled to the confidence of the Christian community. 

The work is printed on fine paper, from handsome stereotype plates, — 
contains 1228 pages of printed matter, and thirty-six splendid steel en- 
gravings. In order to place it within the reach of every one wishing 
to possess this valuable repository of missionary intelligence, the pres- 
ent proprietors have determined to put it at the very low price of seven 
dollars per copy, — one half the cost of former editions ; — making it one 
of the cheapest works published. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The plan and object of " THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF MIS- 
SIONS" having been submitted to us, we beg leave most cordially to 
recommend it to the attention of the religious public, considering it 
highly calculated to extend the interest which is already felt on behalf 
of the great missionary enterprise. 

RuFus Anderson, D. D., David Greene, Lucius Bolles, D. D., 
R. E. Pattison, D. D., P. Van Pelt, Wilbur Fiske, D. D., F. Way- 
land, D. D., Daniel Sharp, D.D., B. B. Wisner, D. D., J. Cod- 
man, D. D., Howard Malcom, William Jenks, D. D., J. D. Knowles, 
Irah Chase, D.D.H. J.RipleYjBaronStow, William Hague, Samuel 
H. Cox, D. D., Gardiner Spring, D. D., Spencer H. Cone, Charles 
G. Somers, Robert M'Cartee, I). D., G. M. Mathews, D. D., Arch- 
ibald Maclay,D.D.C.C. Cuyler,Ezra Fisk,D.D., B. T.Welch,D.D. 
A. Kendrick, D. D., a. Alexander, D. D., G. Livingston, 
D. D., G. T. Bedell, D. D.,W. T. Brantley,D. D.Ezra Stiles Ely, 
D. D., J. Breckenridge, D. D., Luther Halsey, William Nevins, 
R. Babcock, D. D., John Pratt, J. C. Young, A. W. Leland, D. D. 

2 



History of Missions, 



From Rev. R. Anderson, D. D., Sec. Am. B. C. F. Missions. 

The History of Missions, in two vols, quarto, by the Rev. Messrs. 
Smith and Choules, is the most comprehensive and the best extant. It 
contains a rich store of authentic facts, highly important both to the 
minister and the private Christian. To the former it will be an inval- 
uable assistant in his preparations for the monthly concert and other 
missionary meetings 5 and in the family, it will furnish instructive and 
useful employment to the members of different ages, in many aa hour 
that otherwise might not be so profitably occupied. 

R. Anderson. 

From the Secretaries Am. Bap. Board of For. Missions. 

The History of Missions, as its name denotes, is a narrative of the 
means and methods by which the gospel has been propagated in pagan 
lands, beginning with the earliest efforts of the church, but presenting 
more at large the origin and progress of the principal missionary insti- 
tutions of the last and present centuries. Being derived from authentic 
sources, and fitted, by its happy selection of incidents, to cherish an in- 
telligent interest in the subjects of which it treats, we hope it will se- 
cure an extensive circulation. It is worthy of a place in every Chris- 
tian library. Lucius Bolles, Solomon Peck. 

"It is to the notice of all the community that we introduce, with 
unfeigned pleasure, this work. If all our brethren would obtain and 
read it, we doubt not our missionary concerts w^ould become scenes of 
more lively interest. We beg our friends not to deprive themselves of 
the pleasure of owning the History." Baptist Magazine. 

"It is the first work, within our knowledge, that comes up, in, the 
extent of its information, to the claims of the great subject of mis- 
sions. After a close examination, we consider the work to have been 
faithfully and accurately done. We cannot but hope that the publish- 
ers will be amply remunerated. The importance of the work can 
hardly be magnified. To all, we earnestly and confidently recommend 
'The Origin and History of Missions.' " Quarterly Observer. 

" We can only repeat the recommendation which we have more 
than once bestowed on this important w^ork." Biblical Repository. 

"We w^elcome with deep and unaffected joy the appearance of Mr. 
Choules's 'Origin and history of Missions.' We devoutly thank God 
for a work which so fully and happily supplies that very information 
which is needed by all wiio would intelligently love and wisely pro- 
mote the great and arduous enterprise of the world's conversion, — who 
would know wiiat has been done, and what remains to be done, and 
what light the wide and diversified experience of the past throws upon 
the means to be employed for the future." Christian Review. 

" The work is just what every friend of Missions has long desired ; 
and perhaps more than one may exclaim, with the lamented Dr. Bedell, 
' I had intended, if God should spare my life, to prepare a history of 
missions 5 but (alluding to this work) how good is God ! it is already 
done.' " Christian Witness. 

" When we have taken up the volumes, we have laid them down 
again with reluctance, and only as constrained by necessity. They are 
rich 5 replete with instructive facts and striking incidents, that will not 
fail to leave those impressions on the reader's mind, which a good man 
loves to cherish, and with which it must be the joy of his heart to live, 
and the delight of his soul to die." ' Boston Recorder. 

3 



MEMOIR OF 

GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, 

Late Missionary to Burmah, containing much intelligence relative to 
the Burman Mission. By Kev. Alonzo King, New edition. 
With an Introductory Essay, by a distinguished Clergy- 
man. Embellished with a likeness. A beautiful 
Vignette on Steel, representing the baptismal 
scene just before his death', and a 
drawing of his Tomb, taken by 
Rev. Howard Malcom. 
In noticing the lamented death of Mr. Boardman, Mr. Judson, in 
one of his letters, thus speaks of his late worthy co-worker on the 
fields of Burmah : 

" One of the brightest luminaries of Burmah is extinguished, — dear 
brother Boardman is gone to his eternal rest. He fell gloriously at the 
head of his troops, in the arms of victory, — thirty-eight wild Karens 
having been brought into the camp of king Jesus since the beginning of 
the year, besides the thirty-two that were brought in during the two 
preceding years. Disabled by wounds, he was obliged, through the 
whole last expedition, to be carried on a litter 5 but his presence was a 
host, and the Holy Spirit, accompanied his dying whispers with al- 
mighty influence. Such a death, next to that of martyrdom, must be 
glorious in the eyes of heaven. Well may he rest assured, that a tri- 
umphal crown awaits him on the great day, and ' Well done, good 
and faithful Boardman, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' " 

Mr. Mason, his worthy fellow-laborer among the Karens, says : — " I 
have been busily occupied all day and evening with the examination of 
candidates for baptism, and have received thirteen. Thus the work of 
conversion seems to have been produced, by the blessing of God, by 
means precisely similar to those which are blessed by revivals at home. 
The whole however, is to be traced to Mr. Boardman's first visit to the 
jungle, in 1829. An impulse was then given to Karen minds, which, I 
confidently anticipate, will never stop until the whole nation is con- 
verted." 

From Rev. J. O. Choules, author of History of Missions. 

I have read the Memoir of Boardman with great satisfaction. It is a 
volume of no ordinary merit, and will compare advantageously with 
any similar production. The great charm in the character of Mr. 
Boardman was his fervent piety 5 and his biographer has succeeded 
admirably in holding him up to the Christian world as the pious stu- 
dent, the faithful minister, and the self-denying, laborious missionary. 
To the student, to the Christian minister, it will be a valuable book, 
and no Christian can peruse it without advantage. I hope our minis- 
tering brethren will aid in the circulation of the Memoir. Every 
church will be benefited by its diffusion among its members. I am 
much mistaken, if the perusal of this volume does not lead some 
youthful members of our churches to look v/itli an eye of pity on the 
wastes of Paganism, and cry, " Here am I, send me." 

Yours, &c., John O. Choules. 

From Rev. Baron Stow. 

No one can read the Memoir of Boardman, without feeling that the 
religion of Christ is suited to purify the affections, exalt the purposes, 
and give energy to the character. Mr. Boardman was a man of rare 
excellence, and his biographer, by a just exhibition of that excellence, 
has rendered an important service, not only to the cause of Christian 
missions, but to the interest of personal godliness. 

4 Yours, with esteem, Baron Stow, 



ME MOIR OF 

WILLIAM CAREY, D.D, 

FOKTY YEAKS MISSIONARY IN INDIA. 

By Eustace Carey. With an Introductory Essay, by F. Wayland, D.D. 

With a LikExXEss. 

During the forty years which Dr. Carey labored in the missionary 
cause, he was instrumental in the publication of 212,000 volumes of 
the Scriptures, in forty different languages, embracing the vernacular 
tongues of at least 27,000,000, of the human race, besides performing 
other labors, the enumeration of which would seem almost incredible. 

The work is done with modesty and good sense, and is written with 
pieiy, candor and simplicity. The author rarely indulges his imagina- 
tion, and seldom diverges from the plain path of beaten narrative. 
Whatever he says may be relied on with confidence, and will be pe- 
rused with interest. We would gladly have had more, but we are 
thankful that we have so much. — Introductory Essay. 



MEMOIR OF 

ANN H. JUDSON, 

Late Missionary to Burmah, including a history of the American 
Baptist Mission in the Burman Empire. By James 
D. Knowles. A new edition. With a con- 
tinuation of the History of the mis- 
sion down to the present year. 

The unexampled sale of this book in the United States, besides 
several editions in England, is a gratifying evidence of the public ap- 
probation. 

It is now published in improved style, and makes a GIFT much su- 
perior to any annual 5 the embellishments being elegant and appro- 
priate, and the reading matter, which is of the most interesting and 
improving character, makes it one of the most desirable presents to a 
" Young Christian " that can be found. 

From the American Traveller. 

" We are particularly gratified to perceive a new edition of the Me- 
moirs of Mrs. Judson. She was an honor to our country — one of. the 
most noble spirited of her sex. It cannot therefore be surprising that 
so many editions and so many thousand copies of her life and adven- 
tures have been sold. The name — the long career of suffering — the 
self-sacrificing spirit of the retired country girl, have spread over the 
whole w^orld 5 and the heroism of her apostleship and almost martyr- 
dom, stands out a living and heavenly beacon fire amid the dark mid- 
night of ages, and human history and exploits. She was the first 
woman who resolved to become a missionary to heathen countries." — 

5 



Tlie Cliristiaa Miaiature Lil)rary. 

Elegantly Bound in Cloth, Gilt Edges. 



THE BIBLE AND THE CLOSET ; 

Or how we may read the Scriptures with the most spiritual profit, 
by Thomas Watson 5 and Secret Prayer successfully man- 
aged, by Rev. Saml. Lee 5 Ministers ejected in 
1662, edited by J. O. CHOULES, with a 
recommendatory Letter, 
by E. N. KIRK. 

" This class of publications supply the most striking deficiency in the 
practical religious literature of our day. Here are rich views of scrip- 
tural illustration and of religious sentiment, buried in the tomes of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it is a good service to the 
church of the nineteenth, to re-open those mines. Our neophytes need 
it, and our ministerial corps may find models which can be most prof- 
itably imitated." — Mr. Kirk^s Letter. 

THE FAMILY ALTAR; 

Or how may the duty of daily family Prayer be best managed for 

the spiritual benefit of every one in the family. By 

Thomas Doolittle, 1674. Edited by 

J. O. CHOULES. 

THE CASKET OF FOUR JEWELS, 

For Young Christians. Containing Apollos — Growth in Grace — The 
Golden Censer — and The Christian Citizen. 

THE MARRIAGE RING; 
Or how to make Home Happy. By the Rev. John Angel James. 

Other volumes of the above beautiful series are in preparation, and 
will be speedily issued. 

The following are done up in paper, gilt edges. 

APOLLOS : 
Or directions to persons just commencing a Religious Life. 

GROWTH IN GRACE : 

Or the young Professor directed how to attain to Eminent Piety. From 
the writings of J. EDWARDS and J. A. JAMES. 

THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN: 
By JOHN HARRIS, D. D. 

THE GOLDEN CENSER : 
Or a visit to the House of Prayer, from the writings of 



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